Through Your Black Hair, My Hands
by CrownOfGlory
Summary: Harry Potter died in the Department of Mysteries. He travels through time and meets Voldemort. Slash Harry Potter/Voldemort.
1. Things You Should Know

**THROUGH YOUR BLACK HAIR, MY HANDS  
**

**Summary:** Harry Potter died in the Department of Mysteries. He travels through time and meets Voldemort.

**Pairings:** Harry Potter / Voldemort

**Disclaimer:** J. K. Rowling owns these characters. I'm putting this here, so I don't have to put it in every chapter.

**Other notes:** This fanfic is a translation from a Chinese Harry Potter fan fiction. I enjoyed it so much, I thought I translate it and post it here for every one else to enjoy. The Chinese version is all finished, so you don't have to worry about me not finishing it. But this is the first time I'm translating anything, so the grammar might be off sometime and it might take awhile.

**Ratings: **I put T because most of the chapters are K, except for a couple chapters rated M very far in the future. I'll explicitly say which chapters are rated M.

**Original story website:** http: //www. jjwxc. net/onebook. php? novelid=257980

"Talking"

{Parseltongue}


	2. Chapters 1 to 4

**Chapters 1 – 4**

In the Department of Mysteries, in the room with all the clocks, Death Eaters and former Aurors – those traitors who were now Voldemort's followers – all had their wands pointed at Harry Potter.

"_Avada Kedavra_!"

Green lights flew through the air, causing explosions everywhere. In the bright green light, Harry disappeared.

*****

Harry walked slowly down a pitch dark hallway; he had been walking ever since he woke up, his feet were beginning to hurt, but he still couldn't see the end of the hallway. Finally, he got too tired to walk and held onto a door with the doorplate reading '1938'; the door opened silently. Harry looked into the room, it was dark except for a dot of light a few steps away. He leaned in to look at the light, but was sucked into the room.

Harry hit the ground hard, he felt like everything around him was spinning. After he stood up, he realized that he was in a forest, maybe in the afternoon. He touched his wand, it was still there. Harry took a few steps forward with caution; there was nothing out of the ordinary about this place, it seemed like a normal forest.

Suddenly, loud arguments caught his attention.

"You're a monster!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes you are! You are a horrible, disgusting monster! You're going to hell, Tom Riddle!"

Then, there were sounds of fighting.

Harry stopped. Did he just hear the name Tom Riddle? Voldemort, he was here? Harry shuddered, he could not forget how he was defeated. Even with six horcruxes destroyed, Voldemort was still too powerful. Harry could tie him in a duel, but when Voldemort got the Ministry of Magic on his side – from using his sweet talk and bribery – it helped him to get the mass on his side. Regular people believed that Voldemort was going to be different, that he would not kill random people just for fun anymore. Once the mass believed that, the Order of the Phoenix became useless.

Harry must admit, he was defeated. In order to avoid more deaths, he shut down the Order and went to Voldemort to die. Only when he was dead will the others live. He must admit, Voldemort was better than him; or rather, Slytherins were born to be better than Gryffindors at plotting, patience and manipulating people.

Harry stood for awhile, but decided to walked towards the noises. To his surprise, it wasn't Voldemort, it was a little Tom Riddle. He was surround by five other kids, his black hair was covered in dirt, his beautiful eyes were full of humiliation, anger and despair. This reminded Harry of his own childhood with the Dursleys.

"Stop!" Harry shouted, looking very angry, "If you don't stop right now, I'm going to make you stop."

The other boys ran away in fear. Tom Riddle got up on his feet, not even looking at Harry, and started to walk away.

"Why did they call you a monster?" Was it because of the same reason when he was hit by his aunt and uncle when he was little?

Tom Riddle suddenly turned around, "It's none of your business, go away!"

"I helped you, you shouldn't treat me like that." Harry frowned. He was talking to Tom Riddle as the child he was now; as it was very hard for him to treat a five year old child like a powerful enemy.

"I didn't ask your help me, I can fight them myself." They boy said.

"You weren't doing very well." Harry pointed out what he saw.

The boy suddenly smiled like he was about to do something terrible and hissed something, {Come here!}

A black snake swam forward silently, {Bite him!} Riddle pointed at Harry.

The black snake began to attack; Riddle smiled coldly.

Harry stared at Tom Riddle. Yes, he forgot that Tom Riddle was a Parselmouth, he didn't think that Tom Riddle discovered and could use this talent so well when he was so little.

{Stop!} Harry hissed, {Go back to where you came from!}

The black snake followed the order.

Tom Riddle grasped, "You...you can…"

"Talk to snakes? Yes." Harry answered with a smile.

Tom Riddle rolled his eyes. A fist-sized spider slowly rose up behind Harry and was just about to hit Harry. Years of war allowed Harry to discover magical movements very easily, which also gave him enough time to fight back.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!"

The spider stood like a rock and Harry knocked it out of the way.

Tom Riddle looked at Harry's wand with awe, "What's that?"

"Wand. A wizard's want." Harry answered.

"You're a wizard?"

"Yes. So are you," Harry said in a low voice, "A very special wizard."

"Then can I have a wand?" The boy looked at Harry's wand with greed.

"Of course, when you go to Hogwarts, you will be able to have your own wand."

"When's that?" The boy looked confused.

"When you're eleven."

Tom Riddle rushed to Harry side, "But I want it…NOW!" He suddenly made a move to grab Harry's wand.

But Harry just waved his wand and used a nonverbal spell, "_Tarantallegra_". Tom Riddle's feet immediately jumped into dance.

Harry enjoyed bullying this little boy, it seemed like he was getting revenge.

Tom Riddle struggled, but just couldn't stop dancing. He couldn't stand the humiliation and started to cry. Harry hurriedly stopped the spell, but the boy cried even louder.

Harry crouched down beside him. "I'm just playing with you, there's no need to cry. Look at you, who would have thought that you will be ruling the world in the future."

The boy stopped crying and looked at Harry with sparkling eyes. "I'll rule the world?"

Harry answered warily, "Yes, using the name Voldemort."

"Voldemort? What a weird name." Tom Riddle said distasting.

Harry looked at him funny, "You don't like it? You invented it yourself."

He waved his wand and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of the name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"You didn't like your father, because he was a Muggle – it's people who don't have magic – so you got rid of his name." Harry thought about how Voldemort killed his father.

Tom Riddle stood there silently. Suddenly, he asked with a curious voice, "How do you know my future?"

Harry look at him coldly. He now understood what that hallway was, it is the Hallway of Time, door number 1938 meant the year 1938. The ever so powerful Lord Voldemort was only a child now, if Harry killed him now, then all problems would be solved.

He stood up and pointed his wand at Tom Riddle. The boy looked at him with eyes of fear, but still spoke calmly, "What are you doing? Killing me?"

Smart kid, too smart.

"Yes, I'm going to kill you, then there won't be so much trouble." Harry's voice sounded like ice, and began to say silently, _Avada – _

Tom Riddle knew that he couldn't escape, so he closed his eyes, like he was some hero; but his shaking body told people that he was scared.

"Then kill me, I'm a monster anyways, nobody loves me."

This sentence was like a sword stabbing into Harry's chest, he once again thought about his own childhood, how he was mistreated because he couldn't control his magical powers; he was seen as a monster. It wasn't his fault.

Harry lowered his wand like it was too heavy to carry, stood there silently for a few minutes, and hugged Tom Riddle tightly. "I'm the same as you," he said in a broken voice, "I'm also an orphan raised by Muggles and could talk to animals. But I don't hate Muggles like you. Although they don't know magic, they are very smart, they can live very nice lives without magic. Although some of them are bad, many of them are good people. I hope you can see this." He lowered his eyes, "I can't kill you. We are too much alike. Take care."

Harry turned around and felt that somebody pushed him from behind. Next second, he was back in the Hallway of Time and was on the floor outside the 1938 door.

Tom Riddle watched the young man disappear, still stunned by magic. What kind of magic was this, allowing people to come back to the past from the future? Many years later when he found out that the Ministry of Magic had something called the Time-Turner, he guessed that that man used some kind of Time-Turner to come back to the past to kill him. But because they were too much alike, he didn't kill him. Voldemort always thought that the man would come back another time to kill him, but he never showed. Tom Riddle kept on thinking that maybe the man was punished because he didn't finish his job, just like how he punished his servants and followers. This thought terrified him, he didn't want that man to die, he wanted him to live.

Tom Riddle always remembered that hug, the gentle, but painful hug; he felt the man's sadness, that kind of pain made his heart ache. Suddenly, he felt like crying. Before, when he was little, he didn't understand; but years later, he realized that that kind of feeling was love. He always remembered, in that sunny afternoon, a tired looking young man with strong and determined eyes walked into his eyesight. The large robe covered his skinny body, his face was strong with a beautiful and fierce smile. The man had messy black hair with the most beautiful green eyes ever.

Because Harry's hair was too long, Tom Riddle didn't see the lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Otherwise, the next time they met, Voldemort for sure was going to recognize him.

*****

**September 1977**

Harry walked onto platform nine and three quarters, wearing second hand robes and carrying an old suitcase with his books and equipment. Being a penniless child from a Muggle orphanage, he received financial aid from Hogwarts. Even though all of his things were second-hand, he was still very happy.

That day, after he came back from 1938, he opened the door to 1977. He wanted to see his parents in their childhood. But when he fell through the door, his body shrunk to when he eleven. His eyesight was back to what is used to be before he took the Eyesight Potion, so he once again needed to wear glasses. Harry picked the same frame as he used to have.

Then, surprisingly, he received the acceptance letter from Hogwarts. A young Professor McGonagall gave him thirty Galleons as financial aid. She was going to take Harry to buy his school supplies, but Harry denied.

In the end, Harry brought a snowy owl, naming her Hedwig.

Harry gave a lot of thought about his future. His biggest problem was that he didn't know how long he could stay here in the past. If it was just for seven years at Hogwarts, then he didn't need to change anything. He wanted to spend his school years being unnoticed and enjoy the quite life he long yearned for.

On the other hand, if he was going to stay here forever, since he already knew the future, then at the right time, he could change some "history", like saving his parents' life and Sirius's freedom, he may even join the Order of the Phoenix and once again, fight against Voldemort. He didn't know if history had been changed, if not, then he will die once again; if it had been changed, then he wanted to get a job at the Ministry of Magic, not as an Auror, he was tired of the coldness of war; but in the Muggle Liaison Office. He remembered the flyers from his fifth year. All that was needed was a Muggle Studies OWL, this fitted perfectly with what he was trying to become, an ordinary nobody.

Harry got on the train and began to look for a compartment; on the way, he saw his young mother, he also saw that his young father, godfather, and Remus were already friends, but he didn't want to meet them. Merlin knows that Harry was ashamed of what his father did in school. He wanted to meet his mother, but her compartment was already full. He walked to the last compartment and there was only one person in it.

He opened the door and asked very friendly, "Do you mind if I sit here, everywhere else is full."

The young boy looked up from his books and Harry froze. Greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin: Severus Snape, the last person Harry wanted to see.

"If you want to." Snape said and looked back to his book.

Harry sat down carefully, trying to make himself look as small as possible, making him look like he was not there. After years of fighting on the same side with Snape, he still didn't know how to live with Snape. He could understand how much Snape hated his father and how he passed that hate on to Harry, but this understanding didn't change their relationship for the better. Even at the end, when Harry was forced to shut down the Order of the Phoenix, they were only speaking when they had to and not a word extra. Was this little Snape going to be as difficult as the older Snape?

After a long silence, Harry decided to befriend Snape, maybe he could find a way to be friends with Snape. If he could become friends with Snape, then maybe, he could avoid Snape's worst memory from happening a few years down the road. He didn't want his father's big-headedness to harm people.

Harry practiced several times, looked up with a friendly smile and spoke in the most friendly voice, "Hello, I'm Harry Potter, it's very nice to meet you." He held out his hand. His heart felt like it was going to jump out of his mouth. He was praying to Merlin that this Snape was not going to be as difficult as the other Snape he knew.

Snape didn't answer him.

The turned down Harry wanted to give-up, so he didn't have look like an idiot for much longer. But Snape's childhood kept on popping into his mind. He needed to keep on trying.

Snape stared at the hand that was almost right under his nose, looked up angrily at that idiot looking smiling face. He didn't understand why the boy in front of him was not giving up. Even though the boy's smile was becoming rigid and his hand was beginning to shake.

What an idiot. But that ordinary face went very well with that idiotic smile.

Snape held out his hand, grabbed Harry's hand, and made a little shake. "Severus Snape."

The smile became even more idiotic, Snape rolled his eyes.

He succeeded! Harry smiled like an idiot. Little Snape _was_ better than older Snape. If he could talk to him and get to know him more, then they may just become friends.

When the sky darkened, they arrived at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall stood waiting for them inside the castle, the sorting ceremony was about to begin.

Having already been through sorting once, Harry was not as nervous as the others, he leaned against the wall thinking about which house he was going to be sorted into. Maybe he shouldn't be in Gryffindor anymore, because if that was the case, then he would never become friends with Snape.

"You don't seem nervous." Snape looked at Harry, this was the first time he started a conversation since they met a few hours ago. Harry's calmness made him stood out from the crowd, also very different from the way he was behaving on the train.

"Because," Harry rolled his eyes and yawned, "They won't be able to send us home; every house is the same to me." He started to smile like an idiot again.

Snape wanted to roll his eyes, "Idiot, there is a difference to houses! If you're in Hufflepuff, don't tell people that you know me."

"Severus, you're so cold!" Harry made a face.

"Huh!"

The students were sorted one by one: Narcissa Black, Sirius Black, Crabbe, Lily Evans, Goyle, Remus Lupin, Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew. Then, it was –

"Harry Potter."

"Potter?" Some one repeated.

Harry quickly looked back, it was James. Of course, James didn't think there would be another Potter in his year.

James looked at Harry and quickly looked away. Just an ordinary fellow, didn't need my attention, James thought.

Harry put on the Sorting Hat. The Hat took as long as it took twenty years later. "SLYTHERIN!" Of course, the Hat would think that Harry would be successful in Slytherin.

Hopefully not a successful Death Eater, thought Harry. He really wanted to be in Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff was ok too; whoever thought it was going to be Slytherin?

James was sorted into Gryffindor. Snape, of course, was a Slytherin, and sat down in front of Harry. Harry gave him a big, honest smile. Snape pretended he didn't care, but the corner of his mouth raised a few degrees.

Harry was relaxed now and began to observe the High Table where all the teachers sat. A less wrinkled Dumbledore, a younger McGonagall, a Slughorn that still had some blonde hair on his head, Professor Flitch, Professor Sprout, then it was –

Harry felt his jaw drop to the floor, oh Merlin, who did he see?

Black hair, red eyes, handsome features like a move star, long, slim figure. Harry remembered him from the diary of his second year, where he caught Hagrid opening the Chamber of Secrets and got him expelled; Harry remembered him from Morfin Gaunt's memory, where he found out who his father was; Harry remembered him from a little House-Elves' memory when he was working for Borgin and Burkes, longing after Hepzibah Smith's prized possessions; Harry remember him from Dumbledore's memory, twice, once in his childhood form, and once when he was in full power; Harry also remembered him from his many battles with him. Voldemort, or Tom Marvolo Riddle. Harry didn't know which name he used now. Didn't Dumbledore reject him? How come he was a professor now? What happened?

This question bugged him all through dinner, he couldn't think of anything else, not even the delicious food in front of him. He needed to ask someone.

After dinner, after Dumbledore's speech about what not to do at Hogwarts, Harry and Snape walked behind all Slytherin first years to the Slytherin dorms.

"Severus, do you know the professor with the red eyes?" Harry asked.

Snape's eyes brightened up and answered very excitingly, "He's the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Voldemort. He is very powerful, as powerful as Headmaster Dumbledore."

"He seems really young, he must be a new professor then?" Harry pretended he was interested in Voldemort's age.

Snape shook his head, "He's not young, he's 45 already, he just looks young. He was hired by the former Headmaster, Dippet, on his last day; it's been 15 years. Oh, he's also our Head of House."

Harry felt like he was going to faint. This wasn't the history he was familiar with. In the history he knew, there was no DADA professor named Voldemort. During Snape's time at Hogwarts, the Head of Slytherin was Slughorn! How could history change? He didn't do anything when he was in 1938! Now, not only was Voldemort the DADA professor, he was also the Head of Slytherin. This way, it was going to be much easier for him to get followers. If things kept on happening like this, if after Harry graduate he didn't go back to 2012, then Harry knew for sure that he would die in battle in the future. Harry could only see darkness in his future.

Snape stopped, "We're here."

Harry pushed up his glasses and gasped in surprise, "Severus, we're in the same room!"

Finally, some good news tonight.

*****

**Four years later.**

Harry walked into the last compartment on the Hogwarts Express. This was where he and Snape had been sitting for the past four years. Although Snape was on great terms with Lucius Malfoy, he didn't care to sit with people like Crabbe and Goyle. Harry, because of his weird scar, the ugly glasses that covered two thirds of his face, and his awesome grades in Muggle Studies, he had been seen as Slytherin's disgrace. With these two students together, not a third person would want to sit in this compartment; of course, these two people didn't seem bothered by it.

Quietly, Harry opened the door and slipped in. After four years, they shared a friendship nothing could destroy. "Severus, how was your summer?"

Snape looked up from his thick book, struggled between answering that question and continuing reading; but, brought up a smile so faint you could hardly tell, and said, "Same as before, reading all the time. You?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, opened Hedwig's case and let her out, "Me? Same as before, people trying to hide every time they see me."

Everyone in the orphanage was very afraid of Harry, but he didn't care. Harry began to tell Snape what new spells he practiced during the summer, when suddenly, loud noises appeared outside the compartment and you could hear a boy and a girl trying to hide their arguments, but not succeeding.

Harry and Snape were very familiar with those voices, James Potter and Lily Evans.

Same as the history known to Harry, for the past four years, James was one of the most popular student in Gryffindor and possibly even in Hogwarts. Him, along with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew called themselves the Marauders. Professors loved and were annoyed at them at the same time, while many students worshiped them. With James as the Seeker, Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup three years in a row, which helped them won the House Cup three years in a row. In school, their only enemies were Harry and Snape. Every time they met, it turned into a six people duel. The situation became even worse after James told the entire school that he liked Lily Evans. Boys always liked to brag their awesomeness in front of the girl they like, if they could defeat their long-time enemy, they would win even more points with the girl.

Therefore, Harry and Snape's luck became even worse. Last year's fights were even more than the total of the first three years. If not for Voldemort always taking Slytherin's side, Harry and Snape would have been punished many more times. So for Harry and Snape, they didn't want to talk to or see any of the two people outside, even though Lily might be innocent in this case.

James and Lily walked to the end of the train, their arguments became louder and louder.

"Evans, I don't understand how come you don't like the compartment I saved for you, your friends liked it."

"Potter, I don't need you to do anything for me, what you're doing is annoying me."

"It was for your benefit, Evans. There are so many people on the train; it's going to be hard for you girls to find a compartment to fit all of your friends. As friends, I suppose you don't want to sit separately?"

"I don't want to separate from my friends doesn't mean you and your friends can join us. You didn't have such a good image in the past four years!"

"Am I not good enough? I'm Professor McGonagall's favourite student. Sirius and I are Gryffindor's best students. Remus is a Prefect. Even Professor Voldemort likes us three!"

"You and Black have the most detentions of all Hogwarts students!" Lily sneered at him.

At this point, Harry couldn't help but try to hide his laughter, his mother was too naive.

"That…that's because Professor Voldemort was too lenient towards Slytherins; otherwise, idiot Harry Potter and Snivillus would've got much more detentions than us!" James said biting his teeth.

"James Potter, to tell you the truth, Harry Potter and Severus Snape are much better than you and your friends. I rather stay with them than look at you for another second!"

Harry and Snape shared a look, she was kidding, right?

Just then, the door opened and an angry, but pretty red hair, green eyes girl walked in. She closed the door with a slam, which almost broke James's noise. She put five or six locking spells on the door and turned around.

Harry and Snape were so surprised that they couldn't say anything. They stared with wild eyes as Lily sat down beside Harry.

A Gryffindor girl meeting with two Slytherin boys. Alone.

If it wasn't for Harry, who always spoke up for Lily, Snape would definitely give this stupid girl some hard times. The past four years when he was being humiliated by James, it wasn't Lily who helped him, it was Harry. So, not only did he have another crush, he also despised Lily. Snape looked at Harry, mumbled something incoherent, and turned his attention back to his book.

Harry also felt awkward. He just wanted to spend his seven years at Hogwarts with some peace and quiet, then get a job at the Muggle Liaison Office and try to save his Mum and Dad's lives. He didn't even want to be in Gryffindor. Becoming friends with Snape was an accident; while feeling righteous, he stood up for Snape and helped him fight James. He didn't want Snape to have an even worse time at Hogwarts, but this meant he couldn't be friends with his parents. He could only watch Lily from far away, trying to memorize those images of her mother before she died to save him.

He never thought that he could be so close to Lily. Not what Harry expected, he just stared at Lily and didn't know what to say.

Finally, the brave Gryffindor broke the silence, "I'm sorry to bother you."

"That…that's alright." Harry scratched his head, which made his bird nest hair even messier, "We have a lot of free space, and we enjoy having pretty girls bothering us."

Snape's gloomy eyes looked up from his book, sneered a little, and looked down at his book again.

Harry almost gave him the middle finger.

Lily giggled at what Harry said, "You're really funny."

Harry scratched his head again, "Not really, I just wanted you to smile."

Lily thought of James's actions and her smile disappeared again.

Hedwig hooted, flapped her wings, and flew onto Lily's legs. Hedwig's snow white feathers and her actions caught Lily's attention and immediately, she fell in love with Hedwig. She stroke Hedwig a little before picking her up, and said happily, "She's so pretty and cute! What's her name?"

Harry seemed even happier than Lily, "Her name's Hedwig, she's a proud princess."

Lily never really liked owls, but Hedwig was too pretty, she couldn't help but like her, "It must be really great to have an owl."

"Of course, they understand what you need, they love bringing you letters and packages, they make an awesome pet! Like one time, Hedwig…"

Finally, a subject Harry was interested in and could talk about. Snape couldn't help but look up from his book, he decided to not interrupt the conversation now and would remind Harry when they got off the train. He understood completely what it felt like for a Slytherin to have a secret crush on a Gryffindor.

Only when a knock on the compartment door and a girl shyly called out Lily, did the two teenagers – deeply conversed in owls and the Muggle world – came back to real life.

"That's my friend, seems like I need to go back and get changed." Lily said sadly, not really wanting to leave.

"OK, I'll see you at dinner then, Lily." Harry now could call his mother's first name normally. His first time saying that name, he almost bit his tongue.

"See you at dinner, Harry." Lily paused and looked at Snape, who was still reading his book, "And Snape."

Snape didn't even move a finger.

On their way to the Great Hall, Snape told Harry, " A Slytherin falling in love with a Gryffindor will be seen as a traitor, don't be so impetuous."

"We're only friends." Not realizing what was wrong with the situation, Harry didn't seem to care to explain further.

"Slytherins and Gryffindors can only be enemies. If you don't want to be expelled from Hogwarts, don't hang out with Evans anymore." Snape grabbed Harry's shoulders and warned him with a serious look.

Harry seemed shocked, "No, it can't be this serious, don't scare me, Severus…"

"Harry Potter!" An angry voice screamed from behind.


	3. Chapters 5 to 10

**Chapters 5 – 10 **

The one who screamed was a tall boy, standing next to him was a pretty, but snobby girl with an evil look in her eyes. Following them was a blonde boy wearing the Prefect's badge, Lucius, with Narcissa right next to him. Behind them were almost twenty Slytherin elites.

Harry almost jumped up with surprise, what did he do that angered so many Slytherin elites? "Lestrange, is…is something wrong?" He asked with a guilty tone.

Rodolphus Lestrange wanted to give Harry the killing curse right there, right now. Not only was he the biggest disgrace of Slytherin in hundreds of years, not only was he a half-blood with no taste whatsoever. Now, he was hanging out with a Gryffindor Mudblood! He was trying to ruin Slytherin's reputation!

"Harry Potter, listen to me carefully. If you continue to hang out with Lily Evans, be prepared to be kicked out of Hogwarts." Lestrange said, pointing his finger at Harry and biting his teeth hard.

"Professor Voldemort also knows about this, he's telling you stop this right now, he won't give you a second chance." Bellatrix Black followed.

Lucius was too disdained to talk to Harry. He walked up to his friend, Severus, "Severus, you know how important this is. If he wasn't your best friend, I wouldn't speak for him in front of Professor Voldemort. Let him think hard about this, it's only three years until graduation, OWLs are also coming up. I don't think he wants to be kicked out now."

Snape glared at Harry and nodded his head at Lucius. "Thank you, Lucius, I'll make sure he wakes up."

When Lucius and them left, Snape turned to a sad looking Harry, "See? If you don't stop your stupid actions, you'll be kicked out of Hogwarts! OWLs are starting soon, this is the first step to your dreams. Do you want to give everything up for this girl?"

Harry didn't know things could get this serious. He was not a real Slytherin, he didn't know how Slytherins think. But none of those things were important anymore, he must decide between Lily Evans and his future.

He shook his head, and said wearily, "I'll stay away from Lily Evans, I don't want to leave Hogwarts."

*****

"Lily, you're a Prefect now, you can't rush into things anymore. Harry Potter is a Slytherin, all Slytherins are bad." Lily's friend didn't want her best friend to be impetuous.

"Harry is different from the other Slytherins, he's nice." Lily tried to explain, "He likes Muggles, he can't be bad…"

"Slytherin will always be Slytherin, Evans. Harry Potter will be no different. Also, even if he wants to be friends with you, other Slytherins will stop him, including their Head of House." Remus cut in.

Of course, Lily wouldn't agree, "I think you're wrong, Professor Voldemort likes me."

"Only in DADA class. Leaving that class room, he's a pure-blood idealist Slytherin." Said Remus.

Lily stared at him angrily.

"If you don't believe him, we can wait and see how Harry Potter acts. I'm sure he won't even look at you." James walked up beside Remus.

"I believe in Harry." Lily raised her chin.

But Harry disappointed her. Through the entire Sorting Ceremony and dinner, Harry only stared at the table in front of him, as if a flower was blooming on it.

Alice told Lily what she heard from her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom. "It's true, Lucius Malfoy and them gave Harry Potter the last warning. If he continues to be friends with you, then he will be kicked out of Hogwarts.

Lily didn't know what to say. After a long silence, she sighed, "Seems like Slytherins will always be Slytherins and Gryffindors will always be Gryffindors.

"It's good you understand now than never, Lily. Gryffindors and Slytherins can only be enemies, not friends." Alice said with sympathy.

*****

It was almost Halloween, the castle was filled with happiness, only Harry was feeling miserable.

He didn't regret choosing Hogwarts as his home on his first day of school, whether it was now or twenty years later. He couldn't risk leaving Hogwarts for Lily. But still, he didn't want to be strangers with Lily. If only he had been sorted into Gryffindor again. But he dismissed that thought just as quickly. If he was sorted into Gryffindor, he wouldn't have become like brothers with Snape.

There was no perfect world, you had to give up something in order to get something.

Harry comforted himself and left the Quidditch field.

Whenever he was unhappy, Harry would come to the Quidditch field, sit on the highest benches, look over the entire field, and think about the crowds cheering him on during a match. Instantly he would feel better. Although for the past four years, Harry was only an audience, although ever since James Potter became the seeker, Slytherin hadn't even touched the Quidditch Cup, Harry still hoped that this year, Slytherin would beat Gryffindor, and win the Quidditch Cup. Hopefully Lucius Malfoy would do better and not be treated like an idiot by James Potter again.

Walking back from the Quidditch field to the Slytherin dungeons, you needed to pass many hallways and stairs. On one of the stairways, when you walked halfway, you needed to jump over one step, otherwise you would be stuck in the stairs. Harry was walking on this stairway right now.

Suddenly, in front of him, a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared. Waved his hand and chalk dusts immediately turned Harry into a snowman.

"Peeves!" Harry screamed! Other than that Peeves, no other ghost would do this sort of stuff.

But this wasn't the end, Harry just arrived at the step where he was suppose to jump, he stepped onto it, and was stuck in the stairs.

"Ha! Ha! Stupid Harry Potty is stuck! Ha! Ha!" Peeves laughed loudly and took away Harry's glasses. "Harry Potty doesn't have glasses, can't see, stuck in the stairs!" Then he clapped his hands as he flew away.

Harry bit hard into his teeth. Two months of anger finally found its way out. Years of fighting allowed him to find a way out of the tiniest spot. He took out his wand, used a Levitation Charm and stood solidly on the floor.

"Peeves, you did this to yourself." Harry said angrily. "_Accio Peeves_!"

Peeves was happy; but now he was in front of Harry, looking rather confused, he didn't understand how he got there. When he saw Harry, he began to laugh at Harry again, "Ah! You got out so fast! I thought you were going to be stuck there till tomorrow morning, because you're so dumb! But, you look kind of pretty without glasses, only you kind of look like James Potty…"

Harry coldly cut him off, "Shut up and where are my glasses?"

Peeves was even more satisfied, he did a back flip in the air, and laughed, "It's broken in the ground, you're not going to find it!"

Harry was so angry he begin to smile, "Very good, Peeves, you're very successful. You're very successful at making me angry, now, you're going to pay!"

"Oh?" Peeves thought Harry's words were very funny, his back was to Harry, he bent down and looked at Harry through his legs, "Pay? You? Slytherin's disgrace – idiot Potty? Hahahahaha…"

"I don't like your voice, so shut up!" Harry waved his wand and instantly, Peeve's laugher disappeared.

Peeves grabbed his neck with both hands and looked at Harry with horrified eyes. He turned around and tried to run away to get help. Harry let out a cold smile and waved his wand again. Snape's _Levicorpus_ got Peeves dangling upside down.

Not caring about how horrified Peeves was or how he was trying to struggle free and not working, Harry used a Summoning Charm to retrieve his glasses, repaired and cleaned it with two simple charms and put it back on, once again, the world was clear to Harry, including Peeves's horrified face.

Harry walked slowly in circles around Peeves, observing him with evil eyes.

Peeves' face was almost green, he kept on thinking that the way Harry was looking at him was like the way Mrs. Norris looked at a little white mouse, he was even more terrified.

After Harry had enough of Peeves' horrified look, he slowly took out his wand, and said in a lazy voice, "Peeves, you should know, there are some people in this world you can mess with and some you can't. Me, is the second type. Now, you're in my hands, what do you think I should do with you?"

Peeves tried to beg for mercy, he couldn't talk, so he used his body language to show. But Harry wasn't asking for an answer, he went on, "How about the Imperius Curse? Such as ordering you to undo McGonagall's hair (Peeves' face turned white), or pull out a feather from Dumbledore's Fawkes (Peeve's face was now green), or steal Voldemort's ring (Peeves' face looked like he could die any moment)… but, too bad, I can't use unforgivable curses." Harry sighed as if he really regretted it. Peeves seemed like he just been taken off the death row, his face brightened with a smile.

"But," Harry stared at Peeves again, "There are many other little interesting charms, such as letting you hang off the Gryffindor Tower, the scene is pretty nice from over there, or turn you into a mouse. Don't think that I can't do it." Harry waved his wand, a spider appeared hanging in the air, his body is solid as a rock, Peeves swallowed hard. Harry waved his wand again, the spider turned into a mouse and ran into a mouse hole. Peeves seemed like he was about to be executed.

Peeves's facial expressions greatly amused Harry, he had let out most of his anger. "I'll let you go this time, if there's a next time..." Peeves shake his head left to right as hard as possible. "Good, I hope you won't disappoint me. Also, today is a secret, if you tell a soul, I'll let you regret not going to hell sooner."

Peeves was about to faint. That was so terrifying, all Slytherins are poisonous snakes. He nodded his head hard, so hard, it seemed like his head was about to fall off his body.

Harry let him down, the freed Peeves ran away instantly without turning back.

{I haven't seen something this interesting in years, compared to him, Lucius is way off.}

Someone sighed behind him, Harry turned around, surprised, in the dark hallway, a giant snake climbed out from the dark, at least twenty feet in length, his basketball-sized yellow eyes were glittering, bloody-red tongue hissing slowly.

Nagini, Voldemort's terrifying familiar snake.

{You saw everything?} Harry grabbed his wand hard. He was so angry that he didn't care to look at the surroundings before he took on his revenge.

{Of course, everything…} Nagini stopped, he just realized what Harry had said, {You…you know Parseltongue?}

{That's not important, what's important is that you saw everything? From beginning to end?}

{Little boy, Harry Potter, kill me now so I don't say anything to my master that will get you into trouble.}

Harry shook his head, {I don't like killing, whether it's humans or animals.} He raised his wand, {But I will have to change your memory.}

Suddenly, Harry's scar began to burn at this terrible moment. Voldemort!

Damnit! Harry swore silently. He turned around and tried to leave before being noticed.

"Harry Potter!" An annoyed and inpatient voice sounded, "It's after hours, why are you still wondering around? Do you know what will happen if Filch catches you?"

Harry turned around and faced the angry Head of Slytherin, "I'm sorry, Professor Voldemort. I'll go back to the dormitory right now. I promise I won't be caught by Filch."

Voldemort tried very hard to keep his disdain and distaste from showing, his handsome face twitched a little, "Mr. Potter, don't test my patience, you won't be able to stand the consequences."

"Yes, professor, I'll leave now." Harry turned around and ran away. He understood that after Lily's incident, Voldemort's hatred of him was at its peek. He shouldn't test Voldemort's patience anymore if he wanted to stay at Hogwarts.

{It's hard to believe that he is a Slytherin!} Voldemort was furious.

{You don't like him?} Nagini felt that this was really funny.

{Of course! He's the worst student ever, no one can beat him at that! If it wasn't for Dumbledore, that old fool, telling me I can't expel students at my own accord, he would've been gone in third year!} A Slytherin taking Muggle Studies and enjoying it! Voldemort became furious every time he thought of this.

{Really?} Nagini was even happier, {Once you hear my story, not only would you not think of him as your worst student, you might just love him to death.}

{That's impossible.}

*****

Voldemort's private quarters were beside his classroom, in the Slytherin dungeons. Silver and green decorations surrounded the room. He was sitting on a couch, one hand on the handle, one hand holding his chin. {You're saying, Harry Potter knows Parseltongue?}

Nagini was sitting on top of his own carpet, {Yes, I'm positive that it's not some terrible imitation, it's the real Parseltongue.}

Voldemort stared into space for a few minutes, holding out his hands, he carefully pickup a roll of parchment from the coffee table and unrolled it. A black hair, green eyes, young man with strong looks and a faint smile once again took over his heart. He touched the picture as if he was toughing the real person. {You're saying Harry Potter looks like him?}

{Look like him? It seemed like they're the same person, only Harry Potter has a scar on his face. If you don't believe me, call him in tomorrow and see for yourself.}

{Of course I'll make sure of it myself. This is very important.} Voldemort rolled up the parchment and put it back into the room where he kept his other most valuables, and carefully locked the room.

Once again sitting on the comfortable couch, Voldemort began to think about the surprise Nagini brought him. Harry Potter, his worst and most hated student, could use nonverbal spells easily in his fifth year. The simplicity of the way he used them was far more advanced than even the Slytherin seventh years. He was like a completely different person than how he behaved in class.

Voldemort was sure than there was nothing wrong with Nagini's eyesight, that means Harry Potter hid most of his strength. But why? He only had one friend, Severus Snape, and he disliked the Gryffindor Marauders (Voldemort was sure this was for real). For the past four years, he lived very quietly in his little circle, his only dream was working in the Muggle Liaison Office. He didn't have any ambition for power or anything else. So why was he hiding his strength? Getting into the Muggle Liaison Office and being a powerful wizard had no contradictions.

Voldemort couldn't understand what Harry was thinking at all.

Of course, compared to Harry's powers, Voldemort was more concerned about the other thing Nagini told him.

Harry knew Parseltongue, and he looked exactly like the person Voldemort thinks of day and night.

What did this mean? This meant Harry might be the same person that Voldemort loved for the past twenty years. The reason he was so sure was that Voldemort knew exactly how rare Parselmouths are.

During the seven years he spent at Hogwars, only him and Morfin Guant knew Parseltongue. After Morfin Guant died, only Voldemort knew Parseltongue. After researching endless books and talking to many older wizards and witches, he found out that only descendents of Salazar Slytherin knew Parseltongue.

So he had all of his followers try to find Slytherin's descendents. But in the end Voldemort found out that he was the only living descendent. Without Salazar Slytherin's blood, no one was able to speak Parseltongue.

This world's knowledge let Voldemort to believe that his love might be his own descendent. So he took on many mistresses, but all of his children died in childhood, he had to give up this idea.

Then, there was only one possible way left. That person, his love, was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin not known to the rest of the world. But Voldemort believed that in any wizard's life, there was one place everyone must go, that was Hogwarts. Because of this, Voldemort became the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts.

For almost twenty years, he stayed at Hogwarts, but didn't find anything. There were many boys with black hair and green eyes, but no one looked like him. When James Potter arrived at Hogwarts, Voldemort's heart beat a little faster. Other than the eyes, James Potter looked very much like the person from his memories; but the Potter family and Salazar Slytherin had no relation at all. Voldemort had to keep on searching.

He had to admit, Harry Potter was never under consideration. Those huge glasses made Harry Potter only similar in eyes and hair color, but not at all in feature. Harry Potter's terrible grades and shyness was also very different from Voldemort's memory of that powerful and confident wizard.

In the end, the least likely person might become the most likely person. Voldemort didn't know if he should thank Merlin for finding him at last or curse himself for not seeing earlier.

The endless search had finally come to some light.

*****

At breakfast the end day, a beautiful owl brought a letter for Harry.

Harry Potter,

Come to my office after breakfast.

V.

High grade parchment and beautiful cursive handwriting only meant one person – Voldemort.

Harry understood, after last night's events, it would be weird if Voldemort didn't want to talk to him. What a great potential for a Death Eater. He wondered how he can get through this without revealing too much.

*****

This was the first time for Harry in Voldemort's office. The first thing he noticed was seas of green and silver. Voldemort's pictures hung on the walls, all looking noble and elegant. The green drapes were open with sunlight coming in through the huge windows, although they were in the dungeons. Fire roared in the silver fireplace, which was decorated with S shaped snakes, the green emerald bodies and red ruby eyes made the fireplace even more majestic. There was a Slytherin crest in the middle of the floor.

Voldemort's redwood desk was very large, also very empty. Other than the two piles of homework and a statue of Slytherin in the corner, there was only a golden ink bottle and a phoenix feather quill.

Voldemort sat behind his desk in the comfortable chair, wearing a snow white silk shirt, embroidered vest, and a black robe with silver snakes. He quietly watched Harry walk through the door, with no sign showing any feelings on his handsome face.

{Harry, sit.} He waved his wand and a chair appeared behind Harry.

Harry stared; did Voldemort say English or Parseltongue? He was planning on saying nothing when questioned, but now he realized how wrong he could be. Such as, he couldn't tell the difference between English and Parseltongue. When he was the Golden Boy of Gryffindor, other than the few battles with Voldemort, no one else could speak Parseltongue to him, therefore, no one could tell him what's the different between English and Parseltongue. To him, both languages seemed the same. Before, there was no problem with this, but now there was a huge problem. When Voldemort questions him later, should he answer or not? If Voldemort spoke Parseltongue, he could get away by saying he doesn't understand. But what if Voldemort spoke English? If he didn't answer…he began to sweat at that thought.

Harry sat down wearily; beginning to worry about today's meeting.

{Nagini told me that you are very good at nonverbal spells. This really surprised me, Harry Potter. It's so different from your normal behaviour.} Voldemort said calmly.

Harry tried very hard to listen. In his memory, Parseltongue gave off some sort of hissing sound, like when the snakes hiss. He had this type of experience, but maybe it had been too long since that experience, or he was too worried to even focus, he couldn't figure out whether or not Voldemort's voice had that hissing sound. There might be, or might not be. Oh Merlin! Who can tell him whether or not he should answer!

{What's your explanation, Potter?} Voldemort questioned forcefully. {I told you already, don't try to test my patience, Potter, you won't be able to handle the consequences.} Legilmens failed, the Harry Potter before him is an expert at Occulumency.

Harry swallowed hard, he tasted bitterness in his throat. Voldemort was warning him already, he must answer, he couldn't pretend he didn't understand, otherwise he would risk being expelled. Voldemort won the first round.

{Yes, Professor, I admit what Nagini said was true. But I don't want to give any explanation. It's my freedom whether or not I want to show my true strength.} Harry said out of the rage, but immediately, he regretted it.

Voldemort was so overwhelmed with joy that he didn't even notice what Harry said. Even if he noticed, he wouldn't have cared. Compared to a blood descendent of Slytherin, what's a little contradiction going to hurt. He's whole heart and mind was focused on the joy that Harry Potter can speak Parseltongue. He made a decision right on the spot, it didn't matter if Harry Potter wasn't that person, he was going to take Harry to his side and take care of him and raise him. He's going to raise Harry into an outstanding and powerful wizard. It was his duty to raise his only blood relative. If Harry really is that person, then, there's even more reason not to let Harry leave his side.

{Fine, if you don't want to explain, then you don't have to.} Now Voldemort wanted to know the answer to his most important question, {Potter, take of your glasses.}

{What?} Harry was scared, even a bit frightened at how nice Voldemort was; he was also very confused with this weird request. In the seconds that he was confused, his glasses were gone and everything was blurry.

Voldemort couldn't help himself but stand up and walk up to Harry, carefully observing the face that he has been ignoring for the past four years, those eyes, noise, lips, and hair, all put together became a little version of that person.

{Smile.} He ordered.

{I…} Harry tried to protest.

{I said smile!} Voldemort was getting impatient.

Fine. Harry closed his mouth. Voldemort was acting really weird, he shouldn't do anything to get on his bad side anymore. It was just smiling, not a big deal.

Harry gave a very unwilling smile.

But in the eyes of Voldemort, Harry's smile was very beautiful, bashful and shy, just like that person's smile. Maybe because Harry was still a student, he didn't show any signs of tiredness like that person, there was also no tenaciousness in his eyes. Harry was still young, his life was still a blank piece of paper, waiting for some one to put some color onto it.

Voldemort was very sure now, Harry is that person. Twenty years, finally, he found him.

Quickly sat back in his seat, Voldemort gave Harry back his glasses. When that couldn't be uglier glasses covered Harry's beautiful face once again, he couldn't hold it in much longer and frowned. He has going to change Harry's appearances. But first, he needed to establish his new relationship with Harry.

Voldemort waved his wand and a bottle of wine appeared along with two wine glasses. The bottle poured out two glasses of honey color liquid and disappeared. One glass flew to Voldemort while the other flew to Harry.

"Madam Rosmerta's finest oak-matured mead." Said Voldemort.

Harry hesitated a bit and took a sip, it tasted just like he remembered.

"Harry, do you know Salazar Slytherin's special powers?"

Harry nodded, having suspicions about Voldemort changing the way he called him, "Yes Professor, he can talk to snakes."

"Good," Voldemort continued, "Therefore, his descendents can also talk to snakes, and _only_ his descendents can talk to snakes." He paused, wanting to see Harry's reaction. He was disappointed. Harry seemed to have no reaction at all, as if this had nothing to do with him. "Do you know what this means?"

"I don't think I have anything to do with Salazar Slytherin." Harry muttered.

"Why are you so sure?" Voldemort raised his eyebrow, Harry's categorical attitude seemed absurd.

"My last name is Potter, no one with last name Potter has any relation to Salazar Slytherin." Harry was very confident.

Voldemort smiled. "Yes, on your father's side, there might not be any relation to Salazar Slytherin. But, not only do you have a father, you also have a mother."

"My mother is a Muggleborn witch." Harry said calmly. How could the noble Slytherin descendents have Muggleborn children?

Voldemort compressed his lips, then said unwillingly, "There are traitors in any family. Like the Blacks, Guants…" He stopped, "Anyway, before you can be sure of your mother's bloodline, this possibility exist."

Harry grinded his teeth in anger, he hated this time period because of that. In this time period, he couldn't say who his parents were, so he just told people they were a pureblood wizard and a Muggleborn witch. Now, this vague explanation won't help him a bit in explaining his bloodline.

"Actually, even if after investigation, we found that none of your parents are related to Salazar Slytherin, it doesn't really matter. The fact that you know Parseltongue is the best proof that you are a descendent of Salazar Slytherin." Voldemort continued.

Harry gave a little smirk. No one's going to believe what he has to say, if he didn't experience it himself, he won't even believe it himself. It looks like he just had to accept this forced "descendent of Salazar Slytherin" glory upon him.

"Fine, so what if I'm a descendent of Salazar Slytherin?"

"So what? So what?!" Voldemort stood up in excitement and quickly walked to Harry's side. "That means we're blood relatives and I'm your elder."

"What are you trying to say, Professor Voldemort?" Harry was very confused, he understood each word of the sentence, but how come he couldn't understand them when they were put together?

"That means I have the right to appeal to court, to change your custody." Voldemort smiled, "And that's what I'm planning on doing."


	4. Chapters 11 to 15

**Chapters 11 – 15 **

"WHAT!" Harry jumped up from his seat. The wine glass in his hand fell to the floor and shattered to a thousand pieces.

"Change my custody? To who?" Harry's face was becoming very pale, it seemed like he lost his ability to think properly too.

"To me of course. I'm your only living blood relative in this world." Voldemort gave Harry his perfect smile, restored his wine glass and poured him some more mead.

Harry struggled for a few seconds, then grabbed the wine glass and took down all the mead in one swallow. He needed the alcohol to clear his mind so he could think properly again, but this was way out of his imagination. He asked another stupid question, "What are you trying to do? My life is just fine like this."

Voldemort cut him off in a stern voice, "I don't think your life is fine! You have great powers, but you're trying to hide them as much as possible; you have the most ancient and noble blood in you, but all you think about is befriending dirty Mudbloods. As your only blood relative alive, I cannot stand for you to be this way! I need to correct you, teach you, raising you to become the greatest wizard of all time. Let the entire world fall to your feet." He needed to let Harry become the "King" from his memories, forever standing by his side.

Let the entire world fall to my feet? Does that include you, Voldemort? The more Harry listened, the more annoyed he got. In the end, he wanted to throw the wine glass at Voldemort's head. But he quickly controlled his temper and put the wine glass steadily on the desk.

He walked up to Voldemort, lifting his head to come eye to eye with this man, the man who always got what he wanted. Not caring about the burning sensation coming from his scar, he told him firmly, pronouncing each word, "Mr. Voldemort, know this, my life, Harry Potter's life will be decided by me, Harry Potter, alone! I enjoy my quiet life, I like Muggles, and therefore, my only goal in life is working in the Muggle Liaison Office and working with Muggles for my entire life. I don't need other people telling me what to do, including you!"

Force and pressure mounted onto Voldemort, forcing him to take a couple steps back to breathe properly. He stared at Harry in awe; he couldn't believe this 15 year old could give off so much pressure, giving the unprepared Voldemort some hard times. His powers were only a bit weaker than Voldemort's. All the sudden, the Harry before him coincided with the Harry from his memories. The powerful and self-confident Harry, not caring about another soul in the world. This was one of the reasons he loved Harry for the past twenty years.

But, how did he get this far? Who was teaching him in the dark? Dumbledore? It's possible, otherwise why was Dumbledore always preventing him from kicking Harry out of Hogwarts. Or…he could have studied on his own. The more Voldemort thought about it, the more confused and curious he was. But his blood was also burning with joy. This 15 year old Harry already possessed the power to stand by his side and rule the world with him. Then no matter who or what stood in the way, he needed to have Harry, even if it was Dumbledore.

"Well, well, Harry." Voldemort slowly walked back to his seat, "Don't be so agitated, we can talk more about it calmly."

"I don't think there's the need to talk anymore." Harry said stiffly.

Voldemort gave him another sincerely smile, "Anything needs proper communication, if I'm wrong, then I'll apologise." For the third time, he poured another glass of mead for Harry, "Come and sit and have another drink."

Harry sat down on the edge of the seat with caution.

"I have to admit, Harry, you continue to surprise me." Voldemort thought of another way to persuade him already, "This is the first time I see a Slytherin liking Muggles so much."

"The Sorting hat considered putting me in Gryffindor." Harry responded coldly.

"But he put you in Slytherin in the end." Good thing that ratty Hat didn't make the wrong decision, otherwise Hogwarts might not have a Sorting Hat next year, thought Voldemort.

"Huh!" Harry snorted in contempt, if it wasn't for Snape, he would've gone to Ravenclaw.

"Em…Harry, everyone has goals in life, but don't you think your goals might be too weak for the powers you possess?" Already had the bad experience, Voldemort chose his words wisely.

Even with those wise words, Harry squinted his eyes like a cat with its hair pulled out, "I don't think so, only a person minding other people's business would think so."

"I'm not minding other people's business, I'll become your guardian soon." Voldemort tried to calm this little cat.

"Even if you become my guardian right now, I still won't change my mind." Harry repeated again in stubbornness.

Just like the way he remembered, loving Muggles with no end. Voldemort sighed deeply, how could he fall in love with someone with so different ideals?

"Yes, you're right. No matter what I am to you, I need to respect you, including your goals in life. I was wrong, I apologise." Voldemort put up his white flags in defeat.

"Fine, I accept." Harry didn't feel happy just because the almighty Lord Voldemort apologised to him, he forced himself to accept. "Em…are you really going to appeal to court to become my guardian?"

Voldemort's eyes widened, "Of course! I'm not leaving my only blood relative in a Muggle orphanage!"

"Did you investigate carefully? Maybe I'm not your relative at all, maybe me knowing Parseltongue is just a coincidence…" Harry tried to talk Voldemort out of it.

Voldemort was just as stubborn as Harry, "That's not possible."

Finally, Harry became angry and started yelling, "Do you really need to control me life!"

"Not controlling you, taking care of you." Voldemort corrected Harry.

Harry jumped up from his seat and stared Voldemort in the eyes, "I don't care if it's taking care of me or controlling me. You're not going to get it!"

He turned around and sprinted to the door in frustration. Harry opened the door and Nagini swam in and greeted him, {Hi Harry! How are you?}

{Terrible!}

BAM!

The door slammed shut. A wizard and a snake both shrunk back.

{What did you do? He seemed even angrier than last night."}

{Nothing, I just told him that I'm going to take care of him.}

*****

Harry walked into the Charms classroom still angry at what just happened. Today, they were learning the Silencing Charm, the entire classroom was filled with toads jumping around and making all sorts of noises. He sat down beside Snape and grabbed a toad to practice.

"You don't seem right. Did Professor Voldemort yell at you?" Snape was really worried about his friend.

Still angry at what just happened combined with the noise of the toad in front of him, Harry felt like his head was going to explode. With one wave of the wand, he cast a Nonverbal Silencing charm on the toad. Snape didn't seem surprised, he was already used to this.

"Does the Magical World have Family Courts?" This was the first time Harry heard of this type of courts.

"Yes." Snape responded, "It deals with all family matters. What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

Harry was debating whether or not he should tell him. In the fours years that they knew each other, Harry never told Snape he was a Parselmouth, he was really worried Snape might be angry.

Snape rolled his eyes, "Just say it, I'm not going to be angry. From Year One till now, you caused me enough trouble to last ten lifetimes, have I ever been mad at you?"

Harry thought about it, it was true. So he told Snape everything that had happened since last night.

Snape almost fainted at the complexity of this story, he kept on practicing Silencing Charms out of habit while tried to absorb what Harry had just told him. "You're a Parselmouth?"

"Yes, I thought it was a bad thing, so I never told you…"

"It's a good thing in Slytherin, but that's not important right now. Nagini found out about this?"

"Yes."

"Then she told Professor Voldemort about this?"

"Yes."

"Professor Voldemort thinks you are a descendent of Salazar Slytherin?"

"He's absolutely wrong!"

Snape shook his head slowly. "I don't think Professor Voldemort is wrong. Only descendents of Salazar Slytherin can talk to snakes, this is common sense in the Magical World. Unless you have proof to show you're not related to Salazar Slytherin." He looked at Harry, "Do you?"

Harry shook his head depressed.

Snape continued, "Finally, Professor Voldemort told you he's going to court to change your custody over to him?"

"That's right. Do you think he'll win?" This was what Harry really wanted to know.

"99.999…% he'll win." Snape concluded.

"Why?" Harry didn't understand nor accept this conclusion.

"Simple. You're a Parselmouth, of course the Court will believe you're a descendent of Salazar Slytherin – Don't be so sad, I just told you it's not a bad thing for a Slytherin – which also meant, you and Professor Voldemort are blood relatives. Also, Professor Voldemort is rich and powerful, while the other side is a Muggle orphanage which probability didn't like the Magical World. Which side is better for your growth as a wizard? Do I even need to say it?"

Harry looked like he ran out of all energy, his eyes were filled with despair, as if it was the end of the world.

Snape didn't want his friend to be this way and tried very hard to comfort him, "Actually, in theory, there is the possibility of losing."

"Really?!" Harry lifted his head, his eyes ever so shiny with joy.

Snape uncomfortably shifted a bit in his seat, "I said in theory. If that Muggle orphanage doesn't want to give up custody of you, and you insist on staying at the orphanage…"

Harry stared at Snape, while letting out his anger on the toad in front of him, turning it into a teapot.

"You know that's impossible. That Muggle orphanage wanted to get rid of me since forever, and I couldn't possibly leave Hogwarts to cast the Imperius Curse on anyone at that orphanage."

"So I'm saying it's in theory that Professor Voldemort might lose…" Snape shifted a bit more to the side.

Harry almost cried as he thought about this terrible luck. Voldemort was going to become Harry's legal guardian, to people destined to kill each other. Could there be anything more absurd?

At dinner that night, an owl flew over the Slytherin table and dropped a letter in Harry's hands.

Dear Mr. Harry James Potter,

In regards to Mr. Voldemort's appeal for your custody, the hearing will be held tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 PM in the Family Court at the Ministry of Magic. You must attend in person.

Yours truly,

Paul Feltrinelli

Department of Magical Law Enforcement Squad

Harry and Snape looked at each other.

That fast?!

"Damn Voldemort!" Harry cursed silently and stared at Voldemort sitting at the High Table with an evil glare. In return, he got a faint, but sincere smile.

"I understand how you feel, you don't like Professor Voldemort. But I suggest you curse some more right now, otherwise after today, you might need to think twice before doing it again." Snape sighed.

That night, Harry went to the Room of Requirements, even though he was still unhappy when he left, at least he didn't have the desire to kill anyone anymore.

The next day after his DADA class, Voldemort kept Harry after class, "Harry, I already spoke to Headmaster Dumbledore, you don't need to go to class this afternoon. I'll pick you up from the Slytherin common room at 2:30."

"No need, meet me at the Entrance Hall at 2:30." Harry rejected Voldemort's offer of not having to go to class that afternoon and left the classroom.

Voldemort shook his head and thought that Harry still didn't like spending time with him.

At 2:30, Harry arrived at the Entrance Hall. Voldemort was elegantly standing there waiting for him. He wore a dark velvet robe and a black cloak embroidered with silver snakes, his long black hair neatly stood on his back. Even in this gloomy weather, Voldemort seemed to have a million spot light on him, as if he was the center of the world.

Harry squinted his eyes, they're going to court, not a date.

"Good afternoon, Harry." Seeing him from afar, Voldemort gave him a big smile.

"…Good afternoon." Harry forced himself to reply.

Pretending not to notice Harry's forced face, Voldemort held him tightly, "We're going to Apparate to the Ministry, it's faster that way. Hold on to me."

The familiar pressure came to him again. Once his feet touched the solid floor, Harry rushed to hold on to the nearest wall and threw up his entire lunch. Voldemort felt his heart ache as he padded Harry's back, trying to make him feel better. In the few seconds of their contact, Voldemort could feel how small Harry was. Before, he only felt Harry was short and skinny, now he realized this 15 year old boy was only to his waist and that his body might break with a simple touch. It was very clear that he was malnourished for the past 15 years and that was what caused him to react this way with a little Apparation.

Damnit, Voldemort also grew up in an orphanage, he was never this badly malnourished.

"My Lord, I have some chocolate here, it might give this gentleman here some help." A middle-aged wizard walked forward, he had silver hair and a white goatee. In his arms were many delicately wrapped chocolates.

Voldemort picked up the biggest one, quickly broke off a smaller piece and held it to Harry's mouth, in a gentle voice he said, "Harry, dear, have some chocolate, it'll make you feel much better."

Harry felt very weak; the deliciously smelled chocolate was right beside his noise, he took a bite without thinking. The wonderful taste quickly spread in his mouth making him feel much better right away.

Voldemort had been watching Harry very closely and saw right away when that pale face turned a bit pink. He happily took over all the chocolates, unwrapped them one by one and fed them to Harry.

Harry didn't have the strength to resist Voldemort; the most important thing right now was to regain his strength. After two huge pieces of chocolate, Harry felt he got some of his strength back. He shook his head and said weakly, "I'm much better now."

"Have some more, you're still very weak." Voldemort fed him another piece, his soft eyes made Harry open his mouth without thinking.

"You did very well." Voldemort gently fed chocolate to Harry, while arrogantly praised his follower, "You will be rewarded. What is your wish?"

The man knelt down, bowed his head deeply, and spoke with uttermost respect, "My most powerful Master, I do not wish for anything, I only want this gentleman here to be well."

Voldemort smiled a little at that response. When Harry rejected to eat anymore chocolate, he putted all the leftover chocolates in Harry's pocket. "I know you, Igor Karkaroff, I also know your wish, after Christmas, you shall receive your wish."

Karkaroff was shaking with joy, "Thank you Master, I am your most loyal servant."

Voldemort helped Harry straighten up and walked away like a King without taking another look at the man kneeling on the floor. Harry looked back before they turned the corner, Karkaroff was still on the floor.

In Harry's memory, the Entrance Hall was the noisiest place of the entire Ministry of Magic. The fountain with gold statues in the center of the Hall constantly made water falling noises; witches and wizards constantly Apparated in and out of the place making popping sounds; while others made conversations with each other. But today, the Entrance Hall was extra quiet, not only did all the popping noises and conversations disappear, even the fountain seemed like some one Silenced it. The wizards and witches made a pathway in the center of the Hall for Voldemort and Harry, some of their eyes were filled with fear, some were filled with anger and hatred, while the others, as Voldemort passed them, took of their hat and bowed 90 degrees.

Security check was a must, but the wizard in charge of this was shaking through the entire process.

Voldemort didn't think Harry needed to go through this security check, but he only wanted to find out more about Harry's wand in preparation for tomorrow's shopping trip. When Harry took out his wand, the one that had been used for probability years by who knows who, Voldemort silently added another item to the list for tomorrow.

The Security Wizard didn't ask for Voldemort's wand, Harry thought Dumbledore must also have this right.

Harry's memory of a courtroom experience was a criminal trial. Memory from a long time ago. The dark and gloomy courtroom, members of the Wizengamot that didn't care about the truth, the sinister Fudge, the idiotic Percy Weasley, the annoying Unmbridge, and of course, Dumbledore.

This time was completely different, it was held on the second level of the Ministry, in a small, but very warmly decorated room with warm color walls and a chandelier that lit up the entire room. The twenty some jurors there all seemed very nice, at least on their faces, it seemed like they were all very sympathetic wizards and witches. Harry was sure that more than half of those jurors were trying to suck up to Voldemort.

This must be a show with a lot of practice beforehand, Harry thought.

And Harry was quickly proved right.

In the beginning, two investigators provided pages and pages of investigations. One read the results of the investigation on the Muggle orphanage. Of course, it was very unsuitable for young wizards: terrible food, terrible shelter, terrible hygiene, worst of all, the entire orphanage hated and feared wizards. They made it seem like the reason Harry was still alive today was because of his good lucks. The other read the results the investigation on Voldemort: rich, young, power, influential, care very much about Harry, they made it seem like it was Merlin's will for Voldemort to have custody of Harry.

Afterwards, it was Voldemort's own show, he talked about his feeling towards his only blood relative, he showed his joy of finding another descendent of Salazar Slytherin, he promised a great life for Harry… After that speech, many jurors had tears in their eyes.

After about two hours, it was finally Harry's turn; but within half a minute, Harry only had the chance to say {What?}, everything was settled.

Once they heard Harry speak Parseltongue, all the jurors were scared a bit at first, but then they all breathed a sigh of relief, a few old jurors took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from their forehead.

The next second, a seemingly very kind middle-aged woman said, "Those in favor of changing Mr. Harry James Potter's custody to his uncle, Mr. Voldemort, please raise your hand."

Immediately, all the jurors raised their hand, like a little forest.

"Very well, the court has decided. Mr. Voldemort, you now have complete custody of Mr. Harry James Potter." After she finished, she smiled to Voldemort sucking up. "Mr. Voldemort, you just need to sign the papers and everything will be complete."

After Voldemort signed the papers, one copy was left at the Ministry for storage and one copy was taken by Voldemort.

"Very good, Harry, from now on, I'm your guardian." Voldemort couldn't hide his joy.

Harry looked at him coldly, "Don't you dare think about controlling me, otherwise I'll make you regret this day."

"I won't control your life, we established that already." Voldemort promised, but added a bit silently, I'm only going to make your life better.

As they walked out of court, a little wizard started clicking away at his camera, getting white smoke everywhere.

Without hesitation, Voldemort waved his wand, the camera became a pile of dust.

The photographer dropped to the floor in fear, he begged shaking, "M…Mr. Vol…Voldemort, I didn't know I wasn't allowed to take pictures."

"You are allowed, just not today, Harry isn't suitable for pictures today, my nephew must be perfect." Voldemort looked at Harry's garbage like clothes.

The photographer finally realized what he did wrong, Voldemort didn't think Harry's appearance right now fitted the image of Voldemort's heir. Why didn't he think of this? If the Dark Lord's heir looked like this in public, the Death Eaters might have a riot.

Harry rolled his eyes, he was perfectly fine with his appearance.

When Harry and Voldemort returned to the castle, it was already dinnertime. Because it was Halloween, the Great Hall was filled with joy and laughter. As soon as Harry and Voldemort walked in, the Great Hall became deadly silent, with small whispers here and there.

Dumbledore, in his orange robe dressed up as a pumpkin, seemed very happy to see them back, "My dear Professor Voldemort, I assume the custody hearing went well?"

Voldemort bowed a little in a hypocritical way, "Dear Headmaster, thank you for your concern, the hearing went very well, I am now the legal guardian of Harry, I'm his uncle."

Dumbledore seemed even happier, "Very good, very good indeed. Mr. Potter is a very talented student. Under your guidance, I am sure he will become a great wizard."

"Thank you Headmaster." Voldemort sneered coldly.

The other tables were still shocked at the idea that Harry Potter was Voldemort's nephew. Lucius on the other hand was already ordering the Slytherin students to change seats, emptying the first seat to the left at the head of the table, while he sat down in the first seat to the right. Slytherin had a very special seating arrangement designed by Voldemort when he was in school, taking into consideration each student's family status and personal abilities. With Harry sitting in the first seat to the left, it was as if telling the entire Slytherin that Harry was the new leader among Slytherin students, while Lucius was the second in command. Voldemort nodded his head in approval and led Harry to his new seat, while Snape, as Harry's best friend, sat to the right of Harry.

After Voldemort sat down in his seat at the High Table, dinner resumed as it was before, with students and most of the professors pretended they were eating, while stealing glances at Harry. All Slytherins looked at Harry with envy and respect, while others looked at Harry with perplexity or hatred, of course, there were also jealousy and fear among the students.

*****

"Professor Voldemort's nephew? His heir? What a high position." James said sarcastically.

"I knew it, all Slytherins are bad." Sirius continued, giving looks to Lily, who didn't have any reaction to the news.

"What are we going to do? Harry Potter's different now, he has Professor Voldemort behind him. Should we stop fighting with him and Snape?" Pettigrew's little eyes became watery, as if he could cry at any moment.

Sirius shouted loudly, "Shut up, you coward! If you're scared, then go to Slytherin and kiss Harry Potter's arse!"

Pettigrew's face turned red and muttered, "That's not what I meant, Sirius…"

"Stop it." James cut them off, "Gryffindor stands for bravery, Peter, remember that."

"Yes, James." Pettigrew hid his face in his hands.

"So you're now Professor Voldemort's nephew?" Snape asked his friend in a careful tone. Compared to yesterday's reaction, Harry's current quietness seemed really scary.

*****

Harry answered quietly, "Yes, I am."

"Oh…ok…are you alright?" Snape asked.

Harry sneered, what could possibly be wrong with him? "If I'm suffering so much from this that I can't eat, can't sleep. What are the chances I can appeal this decision?"

Before Snape could answer, Harry give his own answer, "None whatsoever. I knew this when they gave the decision in court, all I can do is accept. Resistance is useless." He shrugged his shoulders.

Snape opened his mouth, but then realized that he had nothing to say. Harry may seem bumbling on the surface, but deep down, he's smarter than anyone. "I'm glad you're thinking this way."

Harry curled his lips. Everything's decided already, he couldn't change anything anymore. He can only follow fate now and see where that leads him. Good thing was that he's fifteen already, there were only two years left until his becoming of age.

After dinner, Voldemort led Harry into the Slytherin common room with one arm over his shoulders. Harry was not used to being so close with anymore, but Voldemort seemed to be addicted to hugging him. Ever since this afternoon, whenever he was with Harry, he would put his arm around Harry's shoulders as if this was nothing unusual. Harry did complain about this several time, but he still kept his arm around Harry's shoulders, saying that they were getting to know each other better now they are family. After a few times, Harry gave up with the arguing.

Slytherin's common room was very different from the Gryffindor common room. In the Gryffindor common room, all armchairs were laid out randomly, anyone could sit anywhere they like. In the Slytherin common room, the armchairs were placed precisely like in a royal court, with one big armchair in the corner beside the fireplace on a platform and the others surrounding it, as if surrounding the throne.

Voldemort told Harry to sit in the armchair beside the fireplace and announced to the rest of the Slytherins, "Harry James Potter is my nephew, he is my only blood relative alive, he will become my heir. I hope everyone in Slytherin will give him the respect he deserves." It was not a request, it was an order.

All Slytherin students, whether they were first years or seventh years, followed the lead of Lucius, knelt down before Harry and bowed down their used-to-be arrogant heads. They did not understand what could change so much in one night that caused their Disgrace of Slytherin to become Lord Voldemort's heir, but they did understand one thing, they only needed to follow Voldemort's decisions without question or hesitation.

"My Lord, please be assured, your wish is our command."

Harry's mouth twitched a little, he really wanted to touch his forehead and sigh loudly. Even though he had been living in Slytherin with Slytherins for the past four years, he was still a Gryffindor at heart. He could not imagine living like this for the rest of his life. Maybe this was what drove people to world domination.

Before Voldemort left, he told Harry to eat his snack before going to bed, "You're too skinny for a 15 year old boy. I'll have House-elves make sure you finish it.

*****

Maybe it was because he was too full from his snack before bed, for the first time in a long time, Harry slept-in.

Even though Snape may seem really mean and rude to most people, but to friends, he was kind and gentle. He didn't wake up Harry for breakfast, thinking that Harry probability needed a lot of sleep to overcome yesterday's events. He ate quickly in the Great Hall and brought back for Harry a full breakfast. It was Saturday, they didn't have classes.

Harry stretched as he sat up in his bed from a dreamless sleep, out of habit, he reached for his glasses from the night stand, but there was nothing there. He turned his head, his night stand was bare. He jumped off his bed and started to look everywhere for his glasses. Snape came to help him along with his other three roommates. The results were shocking to everyone, not only were Harry's glasses gone, Harry's clothes, study supplies, chessboard, trunk, including Harry's wand and Hedwig's cage were all – GONE!

Someone's prank?!

Harry and Snape looked at each other, the other three roommates were sweating from head to toe, swearing to Merlin that it wasn't them. Harry knew that, they didn't even have the nerve to do something like this before they knew Harry was Voldemort's nephew. Then who could it be? It couldn't be those Gryffindors either, they didn't have the password to get into Slytherin, and no one in Slytherin would let them in just so they could pull a prank. Harry was sure of that.

Just then, a snowy owl flew in from the door with a large package tied to her leg.

"Hedwig!" Harry gave his owl a big hug and cried out in excitement, "You're safe! I thought I lost you too!"

Hedwig wasn't used to Harry's hugs, her leg was also a bit numb from holding the package for too long, but she stayed still in her owner's hug until Harry was sure that Hedwig was safe. She pecked Harry and showed him the package tied to her leg.

Harry gave her some owl treats – the unnamed thief kindly left it for him, she pecked Harry again in thanks and flew away.


	5. Chapters 16 to 20

**Chapters 16 – 20 **

It was a rectangular box with silk wrapping paper, inside, on the top, was a note from Voldemort.

Dear Harry,

When you are ready, come down to the common room. I'll be waiting.

V.

Underneath were two smaller boxes. Inside one of the boxes were two potion bottles.

"Eyesight Potion, you drink this." Explained Snape, "And Paste for All Bruises and Scars, you apply this outside." Snape smiled, he knew what these were for. In the other box was a full set of clothes, from soft, white cotton boxers to light blue silk shirt and black long pants to dark blue wool robes with silver wave patterns to black dragon-hide boots.

"Damnit!" Harry punched his bed mattress, "I should've thought of it earlier, other than him, no one else would do something like this!" He ran out of his room, not caring about the blurry world in front of him.

Snape sighed, picked up the Eyesight Potion and followed him out of the room.

Harry ran to the bottom of the stairs and saw Voldemort relaxingly sitting in the armchair beside the fireplace. Well, Harry didn't actually "see" Voldemort, he only made out the long body of Nagini and no one, other than Voldemort, dared to sit next to Nagini.

"You…how could you…do something…AHHHH!" Harry was so angry that he missed a step on the stairs and fell head down towards the floor. He quickly covered his head, trying not to be bruised again. But the pain never came to him. He opened his eyes and realized he was safely sitting in a sofa beside Voldemort.

Voldemort was a bit angry, "Why didn't you use the Eyesight Potion I gave you? If it wasn't for me, you would've broken your face."

Harry was so angry he opened his eyes wide and stared at the man in front him. Instantly, the common room was filled with people swallowing hard.

"It's all your fault! Give me back my glasses! My clothes! And my wand!" How could Voldemort take away his things without asking him? This was controlling him!

"Huh…" Voldemort seemed to be thinking very hard and came to a realization, "You mean the pile of garbage the House-elves picked up?"

"Be careful with your choice of words, that's my luggage!"

"I'll ask you to be careful with your choice of words too, Harry, I'm your guardian." Voldemort hardened his face.

Harry stared at him hard, Voldemort also stared back. After awhile, Harry turned away, he really needed to know where were his luggage. "I'm sorry, Professor Voldemort…"

"Call me Voldy."

"Fine, Vol…Voldy." Harry cleared his throat in order to properly pronounce the name that gave him goose bumps. "Where is my luggage?"

"I burnt them." Voldemort's answer made it seem like he burnt a piece of wood.

Harry seemed like an angry lion, he jumped up and screamed at Voldemort, "You bastard!"

{Harry, you can't be this rude, he's your guardian.} Nagini came between the two.

{Who cares he's my guardian! How can he humiliate me like this?} Harry really wanted to step over Nagini, but couldn't. As a result, he was even angrier at Voldemort for burning his wand.

Snape stopped in the middle of the staircase. Knowing it was one thing, but actually hearing it was another. His best friend for four years didn't speak English, but hissed. This gave him the same fear he had when he was facing Voldemort.

Although he couldn't see who was coming down the stairs, but Harry figured it out from Snape's footsteps. He squinted his eyes, trying to see better, "Severus?"

The trust that came form Harry's eyes made Snape forget about his fear. He walked forward, first greeted Voldemort, then handed the Eyesight Potion to Harry, "Harry, just drink it."

"NO! I want my glasses!" Harry slapped Snape's hand.

Voldemort laughed quietly, "Harry, my dear Harry, I have the responsibility and obligation to let you live a better life, but I will also allow you to continue your dream." This cut off what Harry was trying to say, "Why don't you also take a step back and enjoy what I'm trying to offer you and my concern for you?"

Snape also quietly spoke in Harry's ear to remind him, "Professor Voldemort is your guardian!"

After a few minutes, realizing he couldn't do anything else, Harry gave up. He drank the Eyesight Potion in one gulp and went back to his room to wash up. He didn't have his wand, his supplies, or his clothes, so he couldn't go to class or run around in his pyjamas. Also, if he really pissed off Voldemort, Voldemort might transfer him to another school, and that was something he did not want.

The clothes and boots were all carefully selected for him, it fitted him perfectly. As for the Paste for All Bruises and Scars, he threw that into the garbage without thinking twice.

When, once again, Harry stood at the bottom of the stairs, everyone in Slytherin, boys and girls, stared at Harry with glittering eyes.

Harry's messy hair deducted some points for him, but when some one was as beautiful as a Veela, his hair didn't really matter anymore. He was so beautiful, in fact, the weird scar on his face had turned into a beauty decoration. Even Lucius, with his Malfoy family taste for beauty and perfection, got the urge to dissolve his marriage agreement with Narcissa and seek out Harry's love. But that was just an urge, Voldemort's actions half an hour ago already showed the Slytherins just who Harry belonged to.

Voldemort was very satisfied, although he was a little discontent with the fact that Harry didn't get rid of his scar, he knew he shouldn't force Harry too much. He put his arm around Harry, once again showing who Harry belonged to, and said, "We should get going, Harry, we're going to have a very busy day."

After the two wizards and a snake left, the entire Slytherin common room fell into a noisy discussion. The center of the discussion was Harry's shocking beauty.

Of course, some people brought up other points, "He looks like some one else, doesn't he?"

"He's much more beautiful than that person! Oh! He stole my heart!" The girl blushed a little.

*****

Harry stared at Voldemort coldly, even when they were in a carriage, Voldemort still wouldn't let him go. He pressed down the urge to slap Voldemort's hand and asked, "What kind of clothes do you want to buy?"

Voldemort answered with having to think, "Of course clothes that are noble, elegant, rich…" Seeing Harry's ice-like stare, he added reluctantly, "And Muggle clothes, the ones you like."

Harry's face warmed up a bit. "Are we going to Muggle London first?"

"No, we're not." Seeing Harry's face becoming cold again, Voldemort quickly explained, "There's a shop in Diagon Alley that also sell Muggle clothes."

Harry turned his attention to stare outside the carriage. He didn't care what clothes he wore, he just didn't want to become Voldemort's puppet. Voldemort must understand, he will not be controlled by anyone.

When the carriage stopped just outside of Hogwarts grounds, Harry stepped down from the carriage and saw two House-elves waiting there wearing pillowcases with the Hogwarts crest, "What are you…"

"We carry things for Mr. Voldemort and Mr. Potter." Both House-elves spoke simultaneously.

Oh! What a show-off, having some one to carry bags for you when you go shopping.

When Voldemort and Harry Apparated to Diagon Ally, the same thing happened as when they were at the Ministry of Magic. People moved out of the way for Voldemort and Harry to pass. The path was wide enough for two Harry to roll around on the ground without touching anyone.

Without paying attention to the people around them, Voldemort brought Harry to their first stop of the day, Jess's Magical Hair Salon. Famous hair stylist Jess received them with pride, but soon, this pride turned into fear with sweat dripping from his forehead. Jess used all the charms and magical hair products he knew, but a part of Harry's hair was still reluctant to stay down. In the end, under Voldemort's killing stare, Jess used a Muggle technique: using hair clips to make sure those rebellious hair stay down. Voldemort was not too content with the use of Muggle hair clips, but Harry's neat hair style won his smile.

In order for Harry's hair to stay like this from now on, Voldemort unwillingly brought hundreds of hair clips for Harry. Then it was Harry's turn to worry that he won't be able to clip them properly. Jess, having had a chance to wipe the sweat from his forehead, told Harry that this was a new kind of magical hair clips, they would find the most appropriate spot and clip themselves.

After taking care of Harry's bird nest hair, Voldemort's next destination was clothing store – all the clothing stores in Diagon Ally.

This was a very lengthy process, but Harry didn't become too tired from it. When they arrived at each store, the owner would measure him, and then have the House-elves help him try on different clothes; at times, Voldemort would feed him some Invigoration Draught or Strengthening Solution. After trying on some twenty different clothes, he could rest awhile, drink some juice, while Voldemort decided which clothes to buy (Harry decided that he shouldn't argue with the most fashionable wizard alive when it came to fashion style), and pointed out which clothes needed to be made quickly from the store's catalogue, in the end he told the owners to also mail him teenage clothing catalogues along with his own set of catalogues in the future. Harry felt that Voldemort should be more tired than him.

After buying close to hundreds of different high-end, fashionable clothing, Voldemort reluctantly brought Harry to a very small store, the clothes in that store were way off from the clothes they just brought. "Show us some Muggle clothes." He said dryly.

As if there was a fire behind him, the owner ran around the store and brought out close to a hundred different types of Muggle clothing, including different types of shoes. Harry, who didn't really have any fashion sense, just picked up the ones from the top. "I'm done, let's go."

Harry speed caused Voldemort to let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding. He gave the new purchases to the House-elves, grabbed Harry's hand, and quickly left.

Harry silently counted what they already purchased, boxers, shorts, pants, shirts, vests, jackets, robes, cloaks, hats, ties, tie-clips, sleeve clips, gloves, socks, only shoes left to purchase.

Pieerce's Fabulous Shoes was the largest shoe store in Diagon Ally, richly decorated, with all of its customers wearing high-end robes.

Harry sat in an armchair while the owner helped him try on different types of shoes, after about twenty different pairs, Voldemort was satisfied and went away to discuss purchases with the owner, leaving Harry there, having nothing to do. Harry saw, in one of the window displays, a pair of black with silver embroidered dragon hide boots, he was sure that this was the exact pair he was wearing right now. He walked closer, wanting to see the price of the boots, he almost fell to the floor after looking at the price-tag.

5,000 Galleons!

A pair of boots!

Oh Merlin!

Harry didn't dare to think how much was already spent on him today. Spending Gold Galleons like it was dirt was all Harry could think about.

After clothes and shoe shopping, it was almost noon, Voldemort took Harry to 'Forever Salon'. After Harry ferociously rejected Voldemort's offer of bathing together, he then walked into a room.

The massage afterwards relived Harry's not too much stress, while the beautiful masseuse caused Harry to blush the entire time. The owner's facial made Harry's already wonderful skin to become even more pale and tender, with a little blush on the cheeks.

They left the salon with House-elves carrying an entire line of facial and skin care products.

After having lunch at a French cuisine restaurant, they wiped out Honeydukes, literally. All candies and chocolates (the ones Harry wanted to eat) were purchased. Harry was calculating how long it would take for Snape and him to finish all these sweets, the answer was probability before the end of the year, at best.

Then Voldemort took him to a furniture store and started a conversation with a full-length dressing mirror. The mirror boasted itself of having the highest fashion-sense of the entire magical world, even higher than the Malfoy family. Harry snorted at that comment.

Voldemort took it seriously, after asking the mirror a couple of fashion related questions, he decided to purchase this mirror, "It will be the perfect fashion consultant for you."

Then Voldemort decided on a very large walk-in closet, a night-stand, and a bookshelf.

Harry didn't object to the night-stand, he had a habit of putting a glass of water and a book beside his bed, but he did object to the closet and bookshelf, "There's no room in the dorm."

"There will be." Voldemort answered carelessly. Although he could not give Harry a single room – unless Dumbledore removed Lucius Malfoy as a Prefect and made Harry a Prefect – he could very easily change his current dorm a bit.

"I have a bed." Harry noticed that Voldemort seemed to be very interest in an elegant, eight-person sized bed.

"You won't have one tonight." Voldemort told the House-elves to take the bed.

The owner was very happy, he just sold his most expansive pieces.

After upgrading Harry's living supplies, Voldemort began to upgrade Harry's study and entertainment supplies.

The first was study supplies, Voldemort brought a new telescope, new scales, new quills, new inks, new cauldron, and different potion ingredients, he also brought a new golden cage for Hedwig. Harry wasn't sure if Hedwig would like her new cage.

"Alright, after we buy your wand, we can have some afternoon tea, and then buy some things you boys may like." Voldemort said after checking the time.

Wand! Harry's heart began to race, he remembered Ollivander's words as if it was yesterday. He didn't think he could be so lucky this time to pick another wand. He didn't want to go, but he could not not go either. Voldemort would not let him use a second-hand wand.

Ollivander's shop was still as narrow and shabby as he remembered, Ollivander's eyes were still as shinning and pale as a moon. He softly greeted Voldemort and was very surprised when he heard Harry was Voldemort's nephew. What kind of child would Voldemort recognize as family?

Same as last time, Harry was a very picky customer. But the pickier he was, the happier Ollivander seemed; even if the pile of tried wands already reached the ceiling.

Ollivander thought long and hard, shifting his gaze between Harry and Voldemort, he got an idea. "Why not? Why not! This is a brilliant idea!"

He climbed to the top of the ladder and took out a dusty box, "Come, try this, unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry swallowed hard and grabbed the wand, instantly he felt warmth in his fingers. He couldn't help it but raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.

Voldemort was so happy, he gave Harry a tight hug, "Harry, this wand suits you really well!"

"Ah, yes. Not only are the wizards choosing the wand, the wand is also choosing the wizard. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…" Ollivander muttered.

Harry really wanted to grab Voldemort and leave, not letting Voldemort hear what Ollivander had to say. But, Voldemort seemed very interested in what Ollivander had to say and insisted on staying.

Ollivander's moon-like eyes stared straight at Voldemort, "Mr. Voldemort, I remember very correctly, one phoenix gave two feathers to make two wands. One is yew and phoenix feather, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yes, that is your wand, Mr. Voldemort. The other is the wand in Mr. Potter's hand." He turned to Harry, "We will expect great things from you, Mr. Potter, just like your uncle."

Walking out of Ollivander's shop, Voldemort held Harry very tightly, he was very emotional inside. He believed more than ever that he meeting Harry was fate, they were destined to be together.

Following Voldemort's timetable, they went inside a coffee shop to take a break. Voldemort added milk and sugar for Harry, while he took a sip of his own black coffee. Sunlight shined through the floor-length window, Voldemort's gorgeous face showed satisfaction and affection. Harry was a bit embarrassed with that affectionate stare.

Could blood relations really change a person so much? Harry questioned himself.

Just then, the quiet afternoon was interrupted. Harry angrily stared at the constantly clicking photographer. He didn't succeed yesterday, now he's trying again with taking a picture.

The photographer stepped a little to the side, trying to get away from Harry's killing stare, deeply bowed, and spoke in a tone as if it was dripping in honey, "Mr. Voldemort, do I have the pleasure of taking a photo of you and your nephew today? If Monday's _Daily Prophet_ can have the pleasure of having you and your nephew's photo, it would be greatly welcomed by the public."

Not waiting for Harry to say no, Voldemort nodded in agreement, "That's fine."

Harry slowly put down his cup, and coldly rejected, "That's not fine with me."

Voldemort stared in surprise at the very angry Harry, not understanding what the big deal about a photo was. Seemed like he needed to have a discussion with Harry. "Wait over there." He told the photographer to move far away.

"Harry, can you tell me why? It's just a photo." After casting a privacy spell around them, Voldemort asked softly.

Harry compressed his lips a little, then said, "If this photo is to be published in the _Daily Prophet_, then that's a big problem. It will let everyone know my relationship to you, I only want a peaceful life!"

"I thought you want to work in the Muggle Liaison Office?" Voldemort raised an eyebrow, not understanding.

"Of course, but I also want a peaceful life." Harry thought Voldemort was being unreasonable, why did public need to know their relationship if he only wanted to work in the Muggle Liaison Office?

"Hum…" Voldemort understood their miscommunication; his little Harry grew up in the Muggle world, then spent all his time at Hogwarts without outside interference, he didn't really understand the real world. He decided he needed to tell Harry the truth.

Voldemort considered the right words to use, he didn't want to destroy Harry's innocence.

"Harry, you're still in school, you don't understand how difficult the real world is. Right now in the Ministry of Magic, it is like my and Dumbledore's power war zone, every tiny position that becomes available is a result of our negotiations. Everyone in the Ministry is part of one side or the other, the only one that is neutral is the Minister of Magic, Fudge, but he's just a puppet, no one cares what he says."

"You're saying…" Harry struggled to find his voice, but couldn't continue.

"What I'm saying is that you're original thought of the world is a bit too simple. The Ministry cannot tolerate a neutral person, even if that person only wants to in the Muggle Liaison Office. I only offer positions to Purebloods, Dumbledore only offer positions to people taking his side. For anyone that wants to work in the Ministry, the first step is choosing a side. Otherwise, even if Dumbledore agrees to let you work in the Muggle Liaison Office, other people of the Order of the Phoenix would object. They cannot let a position in the Ministry – even if it is the lowest Muggle Liaison Office – fall into the hands of a neutral wizard with just ordinary grades. That is a threat, and they need to be wary during war times. As for me, I would think you are taking Dumbledore's side." Voldemort sipped his coffee and looked at Harry with a jokingly smile.

"You're saying, if I'm my old self, then I will never be able to work in the Muggle Liaison Office?" Harry spoke very slowly.

"There is a possibility that you could, but you need to withstand my hostility and the Order's distrust at the same time." Once the war breakout, you are the first one to go. Voldemort didn't say the last part.

The sun shined brightly and warmly outside, but Harry felt very cold.

"So you see, telling the public that you exist is very much needed, if you want to work in the Ministry. Of course, if you clearly state you support Dumbledore, you can get the same result." Voldemort had a big jokingly smile on his face. Even if Harry wanted to join the order, the 'light' members of the Order would not accept Voldemort's nephew, even if Harry wanted to be a spy for them, they might think he is being a double-agent.

Harry couldn't tell if Voldemort was lying or not just by looking at his face, all Slytherins were lying masters; but he believed that Voldemort would not lie to him just for a no-big deal photo. Harry scratched his head, the diamond hair clip instantly re-clipped the hair back into perfection.

It seemed like Harry underestimated the war between Voldemort and Dumbledore. He thought he knew everything, but he didn't.

No one could really blame Harry for thinking like this, in his fifth year, he really wanted to be an Auror, and the school really supported him. When the war broke out in his sixth year, he didn't even graduate before joining the war as the 'saviour'. At that time, al he needed to know was fighting and duelling, the political side of everything, he could depend on other people, such as Dumbledore, such as Hermoine. Now, expecting him to know all these political stuff might be a bit hard on him.

One thing he knew for sure right now was that he was not going to join Dumbledore's side, the future belonged to Voldemort and he accepted that fact.

"What if I don't want to work in the Ministry and just live a peaceful life?" Harry was beginning to think about giving up.

"Now, it's impossible, Harry. Everyone knows that you exist, a photo doesn't make that big of a difference." Voldemort explained, "So why not be generous and show the entire Magical World your beautiful face."

Harry blushed at that comment.

The photographer, after waiting for ten minutes, finally got his wish. In the photo, Voldemort tightly hugged Harry and smiled complacently, while Harry forced a smile, quietly thinking about his future.

For the past four years, Harry believed he could stand at the sidelines and watch the war go by, not be apart of it, not helping it. He was a no-body. He already gave up his only chance of changing history, so he had no reason to fight against Voldemort now and prolong the war, destroying more of the Magical World along the way. A stable Magical World, whether it was controlled by dark or light, was more powerful than a split Magical World.

However, after four years, he once again was sucked into this war. Following his original goal, work in the Ministry – as Voldemort's nephew now – he would still be sucked into this war. No matter what kind of work he decided to do, he would always be Voldemort's nephew.

So, it was better to give up early on his original goal when he still had the chance.

When they resumed shopping again, Voldemort was happy to discover that Harry began to request things on his own.

"I want this." Harry pointed a large crystal sphere with the entire night sky inside, "My Astronomy isn't that good."

Voldemort found it strange that all of the sudden Harry became interested in studying, but he was happy to comply with all of Harry's demands.

A set of golden Gobstones, a set of crystal Wizard Chess, a set of Exploding Snap, and…

"Firebolt!" Harry stared at the broomstick in the window.

In this world, the major events were still the same as what Harry remembered, but many small things changed, such as broomsticks. There were still the Cleansweep series broomsticks, but the Nimbus series came out early. James and Lucius both rode _Nimbus 1981_, while the Slytherin Quidditch team all had _Nimbus_ _1980_. _Nimbus_ _1980 _was exactly the same as _Nimbus 2000_, while _Nimbus 1981_ was exactly same as _Nimbus 2001_. Harry was really surprised to see how fast the broomsticks were during his first Quidditch game.

Now, he got another surprise. In the showcase window was the most wonderful and beautiful broomstick in the world: the Firebolt from his memory.

The sign in front of the broomstick confirmed Harry's thought – the newest broomstick _Firebolt_.

"The England National Team already purchased seven of these beauties. You'll see plenty of them at the World Cup next summer!" The owner said proudly.

Harry stared at the _Firebolt_ with greed. He thought of all those memories he had with his _Firebolt_, the memories from so long ago. He wanted to own a_ Firebolt_ again, not because it was the best broomstick, but because it stored many of Harry's memories.

But it was too expensive. Even if the boots Harry was wearing cost 5,000 Galleons, Harry still couldn't open his mouth to ask for a _Firebolt_.

"I think we need to pick a good broomstick for you." Voldemort put his hand around Harry's waist, which made their bodies touch each other in a very intimate position. Harry wanted to struggle free, but stopped when he registered what Voldemort just said.

Voldemort was going to buy a _Firebolt_ for him?! Wasn't he being just a bit _too_ good to him? He must have some evil plot!

Harry raised his head and ferociously stared into Voldemort's eyes. He was not naïve enough to use Legilimens on Voldemort. For people like Voldemort, they were constantly clearing their minds. But the weird thing was in the eyes of Voldemort, other than affection for Harry and trying to spoil him, there was only something else that Harry did not understand. This something else caused Harry's heart to beat a little faster. No one had ever looked at Harry like that, he felt his entire body become warm as if he was the happiest person alive. Deep down, he felt this was not a bad thing, but his own alarm system told him this might not be a good thing for him either.

"You…you really are going to buy it for me? It's so expensive." Harry said softly.

Voldemort felt his heart ache, and hugged Harry tightly. For the past fifteen years, what kind of life had his dear Harry been living? He should have been the happiest child alive, with House-elves serving all of his needs and parents spoiling his every demand. But now, he was worried about a little broomstick being too expensive.

He bent down to meet Harry's eyes and lightly kissed Harry on his forehead, trying to calm this little boy in front of him, who had stole his heart a long time ago, "My dear Harry, it's only a broomstick, don't worry. Anything you want, as long as I can give it to you, I _will_ give it to you."

Harry touched his scar in surprise, when Voldemort kissed him, he thought he was going to die of pain. But in reality, there was no pain at all, instead, he felt really warm inside.

Really strange!

Not really understanding what just happened, he looked down and let Voldemort lead him into _Quality Quidditch Supplies_.

Voldemort picked out a _Firebolt_ for him, and whispered in his ear, asking him if it was good, causing Harry to blush again. Harry looked at Voldemort in confusion, why did he need to be so close to talk to him? But he had to admit, Voldemort did have great sense when it came to picking out the best of the best, it was a great broomstick.

Therefore, a broomstick along with a Broomstick Servicing Kit was added to the already enormous stack of packages the House-elves were carrying.


	6. Chapters 21 to 25

**Chapters 21 – 25 **

When Harry and Voldemort finished their shopping trip, it was close to dark. Dinner was starting soon at Hogwarts.

Harry sat in the carriage taking them back to the Castle, while thinking about what was going to be at dinner.

"Harry." Voldemort's voice brought Harry back to reality. Harry turned to face him and a heavy gold locket was placed around his neck and hung in the center of his chest. A serpentine S in glittery green stone was inlaid on the front. Salazar Slytherin's Locket.

"If you're ever in trouble, just grab it and say Slytherin, it'll take you to me." Said Voldemort.

Why was this man being so good to him? Was it because he was a blood relative? But this man killed Morfin Gaunt, his real blood relative. "Why? Why are you being so good to me?" Harry did not understand.

"Because you're worth it." Voldemort said with deep affection.

Harry blinked his eyes, what did he mean by 'worth it'? "Because I might be really powerful in the future?"

Voldemort laughed out loud. "Harry, if you don't want to be a part of what I do, I will never force you."

"Then why?" Harry locked his eyes with Voldemort's.

Voldemort didn't answer. He reached out his hand and stroked Harry's hair. "You'll understand in the future."

When Harry walked into the Great Hall, all became silent and all eyes fell on Harry.

When Harry left in the morning, some students from the other houses already saw Harry's very different face and as everyone knew, gossip travelled faster than light, especially when it involved girls. When it was time for dinner, almost all of Hogwarts had heard about Harry's beauty. Now, everyone was on-time for dinner, waiting for Harry to get back and see the truth for themselves.

What they saw was an angel shinning in the sky, Harry seemed like an impossible dream, drowning almost everyone in their desires for him.

Almost meant there were other people still with a clear mind: Dumbledore (maybe his constantly twinkling eyes already saw Harry's true self), Professor McGonagall (apparently nothing can surprise her), Snape, James, Sirius and Remus.

"Oh Merlin!" Sirius didn't even notice that he dropped his fork, "James, he can pass as your brother!"

Remus looked at Harry, then looked at James, and shook his head, "You two look really similar, other than the eyes. James, maybe you should write home and ask if the Potters are missing a member."

"Especially if he's also a Potter," said Sirius, "That can't be a coincidence."

Peter, who was still immersed in Harry's beauty, said dreamily, "Yeah, maybe you guys are cousins."

"Shut up, Peter!" All three shouted together.

That night, Harry's dorm room went through a transformation. His bed was moved to the very inside of the room and an Extension Charm was used to make sure all of his new furniture would fit. His original silver-green four poster bed was replaced with the newly purchased eight-person sized elegant bed. The new walk-in closet was filled with his new clothes purchases, with the Muggle clothes stashed away in a corner. A matching drawer unit was filled with his hairclips and other decorative things. A shoe rack was filled with his new shoes and boots with the Muggle running shoes on the very bottom row in the corner, and hats and gloves in the top row. The full-length dressing mirror stood right next to the closet. Beside that was a new bookshelf, the first row were his textbooks, the second row were books from the library, the third row study supplies, including his new wand, and the forth row were his entertainment supplies, Harry's new _Firebolt_ stood beside his nightstand, which had a never-dying red rose in a vase on top and his candy and a big bag of Galleons – Harry's allowance – in the drawer.

The bathroom also went through a transformation. The original bathroom was split into two smaller ones, with one of them just for Harry. The new bathroom was also placed under the Extension Charm to make it even bigger than the Prefect's bathroom and much more elegant.

It took Harry a long time to adjust to this kind of life.

*****

"Harry, you got an E on your History of Magic Essay!" Snape stared at the Parchment in Harry's hands. This was really surprising, in the past, Harry only got an E or above in Muggle Studies.

Harry's reaction was different from Snape's, he was very unhappy with his grade, "I thought I could get an O this time. It seems like I didn't write enough arguments."

"With Binn's teaching methods, I think five arguments are more than enough." Said Snape bitterly, "You should know, you're the only one that got an E this time in Slytherin, and there were no Os."

"Seems like I only have one option left to get help." Harry muttered, even though he still didn't like that person very much. "Do you know if Voldy is still in his office?"

By now, Harry and Snape were both very used to the way Harry called Voldemort, after Harry was forced so many times.

Snape looked at the clock on the wall, with the snake's head pointing to 8 and the snake's tail pointing to 1. "8:05, Professor Voldemort always stays in his office until 8:30."

"Thanks!"

Harry walked to Voldemort's office and was about to knock on the portrait outside, the Medusa in the portrait gave him a seductive glare. "Darling, you don't need to knock." She opened the door quickly and warm air flowed to Harry's face.

"Harry?" Voldemort stopped what he was doing – correcting student's assignments – and looked up in surprise, his eyes were shining with joy. The only person in Hogwarts that could enter his office without knocking, other than himself, was Harry.

"It's me." Harry shook his head, trying to get rid of the chill he felt with that Medusa's seductive glare. "You…um…you…you have a lot of work." Harry could not bring himself to say he wanted help when he saw the pile of homework on Voldemort's desk.

Voldemort waved his wand and all of the parchments on his desk disappeared. Another wave of the wand and an armchair appeared in from of Harry. "Have a seat; they're not that important. Is something wrong?" He was rejected many times this week when he wanted to spend some alone time with Harry. He was very surprised that Harry came to find him today. It must be something important.

Harry handed him the parchment in his hands, "My History of Magic assignment."

Voldemort quickly glanced at the E in the top right corner and praised, "It's a pretty good mark, considering Binns's teaching methods, which I couldn't even stand when I was in school."

"That's not enough, my goal is an O." Harry told him his goal.

Voldemort raised his left eyebrow, confused at Harry's sudden change in attitude towards grades. "An O? This is very different than your usual low-key behaviour. Wait," He rubbed his chin while he thought, "Hum…as I think about it, you put yourself in the spotlight many times this week. You got twenty points for Slytherin in Herbology; McGonagall was very excited to inform me that you successfully turned a telescope into an owl; Pier told me…well, Muggle Studies was always your strong point." He stared right into Harry's eyes, "My darling Harry, what caused you to change?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "I have a new goal, I don't want to work in the Muggle Liaison Office anymore."

"Oh?" Voldemort smiled pondering, "Seems like this new goal has high requirements."

Harry gave him a fake smile showing he was not going to answer that question. Voldemort did not try to push Harry to give him the answers. In the first week of the summer term, he could find out legitimately, why not just wait a little while longer.

Voldemort cleared his throat, not wanting to linger any longer on this topic. "So, what can I do for you?"

Harry played with his fingers subconsciously; he wasn't sure if he was going to cause many problems for Voldemort. He did not know that a professor needed to correct so much homework, until he walked into Voldemort's office.

"It's ok, Harry, you can tell me any problems you have, I'm your family." Voldemort calmly led him to try to speak his thoughts.

In the end, his need to reach his goal won him over and Harry got the courage to speak his mind, "I…um…I was wondering if you can tutor me. I'm terrible in History of Magic and Astronomy, and I don't think I'll do too well on the other OWLs either."

What more could Voldemort say? This was the perfect opportunity to spend more time with Harry. How could he reject?!

"Tutor you?" He repeated this wonderful piece of news, hoping he wasn't having hallucinations.

Harry seemed to misunderstand him, "If you're too busy, I can…"

"No, no, no! I'm not busy at all, I have plenty of time." Voldemort immediately corrected this little misunderstanding. "Harry, when is a good time for you?"

Harry let of a sigh of relief and let go of his almost bruised fingers. "If it's not too much trouble, I was wondering if you can tutor me every Tuesday and Thursday night."

"Perfectly fine with me." Voldemort agreed without giving it a second thought. "Today's Thursday, do you want to start tonight?" He deeply hoped for a 'yes'.

Harry nodded, "Today, I want to know what arguments I missed on my History of Magic assignment."

Voldemort smiled, "Why don't you sit a bit closer, so you can see better."

To Voldemort, when Harry had all of his attention focused on something, that was when he was most beautiful. During wartimes, Harry was used to putting all of his focus to the task on hand. Now, the serious look on Harry's face took away Voldemort's breath. Many times, Voldemort realized he didn't know what he was saying because Harry was focusing all of his attention on him, full of trust and respect. Many times, Voldemort wanted to drop everything and just embrace Harry and kiss him deeply.

After two hours of tutoring, Voldemort felt he was going to break-down from this sweet torture.

"Thank you, Voldy." Said Harry and he meant everyone word of it. He finally knew why Voldemort was one of the greatest wizards alive today and probably in the history of Hogwarts too. His wide variety of knowledge and deep understanding of every topic conquered Harry. Voldemort made History of Magic come to life. In the past two hours, he learnt more than he did in a month with Binns. Harry was very much looking forward to the next session.

"It was no problem at all, Harry. That's what I'm here for, we're family." Voldemort said gently.

Seeing Harry was about to leave, he quickly said, "Harry, can I give you a good-night kiss?"

Good-night kiss? Harry frowned. Let Voldemort give him a good-night kiss?! This seemed so weird in every way, they were trying to kill each other for his entire other life! Also, Harry knew it was going to hurt like hell. But, right now, Voldemort is his guardian, he didn't know that after ten years or so a prophecy would be made about them trying to kill each other. Asking for a good-night kiss right now was perfectly normal.

Harry struggled for a long time. In the end, he gave in. He gave in to the way Voldemort very gently and carefully tutored him. "Of course." Harry thought that afterwards, he can use his scar hurts as an excuse to avoid the foreseeable future good-night kisses.

Voldemort felt all his blood rushed to his head in excitement. He took a deep breath, tried to calm himself, and placed a kiss on Harry's forehead, while his hands were shaking with happiness.

It was a soft and quick peck. Voldemort was afraid he might do something he would regret later if it lasted any longer.

Harry touched his forehead in confusion, it didn't hurt at all. He once again felt the warm sensation running through his body, like the last time Voldemort kissed him in Diagon Ally. Was it because Voldemort didn't hate him and want him dead anymore and even liked Harry that his scar also changed his attitude towards Voldemort?

*****

Lucius sat down in the armchair beside Snape in the most elegant way possible. "Harry, Severus, there's something both of you should know."

The two, playing wizard chess at the moment, looked up and spoke together, "Yes?"

Lucius thought the innocent and perplexed look Harry gave him with his head bended to the right looked cute and seductive at the same time. "There's going to be a Midnight Bash tonight. Severus, you already missed the last three, Professor Voldemort thought you need to have some fun."

Instantly, Snape became stiff and said, "Please inform Professor Voldemort that I'll be there."

Harry couldn't help but frowned at this Midnight Bash. As a Slytherin, even though he was never invited to one, he had heard of the infamous Midnight Bash before. This was how Snape explained it to him: obscene music play loudly in the background, while the boys and girls of Slytherin openly release their sexual desires, achieving bodily pleasure. In simpler terms, it was a sex party for Slytherin's elites or those with the skills that could be useful to Voldemort in the future.

"Do I also have to participate?" Harry asked Lucius, detested.

"Of course not. If you don't like it, you don't have to come." Lucius told Harry generously.

Harry did not see the raised eyebrow from surprise on Snape's face.

Harry relaxed his forehead as if a great problem had just been resolved, "All right, I'm not going to come tonight."

"OK." Lucius walked away. Unknowing to Harry, Lucius was also relieved with Harry not participating in the Midnight Bash. Voldemort forbade Harry from participating; he didn't even want Harry to find out about it, until he was reminded by Lucius that it was impossible for Harry not to find out. Voldemort had to give up on this terrible idea.

However, with this, Lucius was given a task he originally thought would be impossible to complete: use whatever method he could, prevent Harry from participating.

In Lucius's mind, fifteen years old, the age of the beginning of sexual desires. Not to mention Slytherins, there were many students in the other three houses that were probability not virgins anymore. Lucius was really worried about completing his first task given by his Lord. He didn't think that Harry would have no interest whatsoever in participating. Now, having completed the task relaxed him as he _was_ looking forward to tonight.

That night, Harry, along with the other two roommates who didn't receive invitations to the Midnight Bash, stayed in his room and studied.

Harry thought this was the best way. The Midnight Base took place in the common room, although it was called 'Midnight' Bash, it started way before curfew even ends and won't finish until the break of dawn. If Harry went out of Slytherin, when he comes back, he was for sure going to run into somebody in the middle of something. The people that were invited to participate, none of them could called 'nice' people. If they were interrupted, yes, they won't use the Killing Curse, but there were many other dark magic to make someone feel pain.

Harry took out his Astronomy textbook along with his glass orb with the constellations inside and began to review Astronomy. He would have nine OWL exams at the end of the year: DADA, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, Care for Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies. His goal was nine O's. Astronomy and History of Magic were the furthest away from that goal.

"If I do this…then it becomes this…" Harry waved his wand and the constellations within the orb moved around.

He scratched his head in confusion and the hairclip moved around to clip again at the messiest spot. "I need to go to the library." Harry told himself.

All the lights were out in the common room, hundreds of heart-shaped red candles were lit giving off a pinkish light; somewhere, obscene music were playing loudly. The armchairs, the couches, the tables, the floor, everywhere in the common room, except for Harry's armchair, were filled with bodies entangled together. Loud breathes, screams of pleasure, and bodies colliding with each other filled the entire common room.

Carefully, Harry walked around the boys and girls of the room, who were all deeply immersed in pleasure. Sometimes, he couldn't help it but bump into some couples; those couples would open their mouth to say some nasty curse, but then realize it was Harry, and couldn't do anything more than go back to what they were doing before being interrupted.

"Harry, is something wrong?"

Harry turned around, startled. It was Lucius. His blonde hair covered his naked, but well-defined chest, beside him, a young boy, also around 14 or 15 years old, laid on the couch, trying to hide his naked body.

Harry quickly looked away. "Nothing, I'm going to the library…Ah! Severus?!"

Snape sat in the corner, a boy with short light-brown hair and teary eyes sat on Snape's leg, rocking back and forth, apparently immersed in pleasure. Harry thought the boy's facial features to be familiar, but couldn't remember where he saw them before.

"I'm really surprised, Severus likes boys." Harry said without thinking.

"He also fell in love with someone he shouldn't fall in love with." Lucius said darkly.

"…I didn't know…" Harry was really surprised now.

"Professor Voldemort also knows about it. We tried to talk to him, but he won't listen. So we found a substitute for him, hoping he'll able to distract Severus a little." Lucius shook his head and sighed. He was getting a headache from just thinking about Snape's stubbornness.

No one better than Harry knows about Snape's stubbornness, he felt kind of sorry for Lucius and tried to cheer him up, "I think it's working pretty good."

Lucius snorted, "That's because Professor Voldemort told him to! Otherwise, he would just hide in the corner and just drink until he passes out."

"Oh." Harry didn't know what to say. He was always slow when it came to love, so he was even more lost when it came to someone else's love problems. It seemed like no matter what he said, it would be the wrong thing to say.

After Lucius grumbled his unhappiness, he saw the sad look and pouted lips of the boy on the couch and quickly tried to get rid of Harry, "Harry, weren't you going to the Library?"

Harry felt like he just woke up from a dream and remembered what he was going to do, "Yes! Bye!" And quickly left.

Just as the portrait was about to close, Harry turned his head and looked at Snape. His long, black hair, no longer greasy, covered his face, but Harry could feel the despair in his eyes.

It was a Saturday, so there weren't too many people in the library. Though the people there were surprised to see Harry in the library and not at the Midnight Bash. They thought for sure Harry was invited this time, being Voldemort's nephew and all.

The books in the library didn't solve Harry's problems; he put the books back in the shelf and planned on asking Voldemort the next time they met.

After taking a couple of steps to leave, Harry stopped. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a girl on her toes, trying to reach for a book that was way too high for her. She had red hair and a Gryffindor scarf. In Harry's memories, there was only one person in Gryffindor with red hair, that was Lily Evans.

Just a little higher, almost there, Lily encouraged herself. It was very hard for her to get permission from Professor Slughorn to borrow _All Potions_, she was not going to let her height stand in the way of the book she wanted to read for so long.

She sighed in disappointment; she just needed to be a little bit taller! She could give herself a Levitation Charm, though that might get her kicked out of the library by Madam Prince.

"Do you need any help?" A very charming voice asked.

She turned around. In her line of vision was a dark green silk robe, with a golden locket in front of the chest. She raised her head and saw a beautiful face; the familiar green eyes were full of gentleness.

From the time they met, Lily always had a feeling that she had known Harry Potter for a long time. No matter what people around her said about him, she never believed them. She wanted to get to know him, understand him, but because of the difference between houses and James's affection for her, she only saw coldness in Harry's eyes. The time on the Hogwarts Express was a great opportunity and just as she thought, Harry was a nice and kind boy. They had so many opportunities to become friends, but the prejudice of the Slytherins destroyed those opportunities.

Then, the Disgrace of Slytherin became the Prince of Slytherin. His beautiful face and family status, added on those beautiful and elegant robes caused him to surpass Sirius Black and became the most wanted male in all of Hogwarts; his dazzling performance in classes also had him surpass James Potter. Lily knew, there was no future to their friendship, which never even begun.

She looked at her book, then at Harry and decided that between students, even if they weren't friends, they could help each other, "Yes please, I want that copy of _All Potions_."

Harry lifted his hand, the diamond sleeve clips shinning in the light. He easily grabbed the book and handed it to Lily, "Here."

"Thank you, Potter." Lily muttered a thanks and left.

Harry stared at her walking away and finally got the courage to say what he wanted to say since September, "I'm sorry, Evans, I'm sorry for how I treated you since the beginning of the year. I didn't follow through on my promise to you. You must be really disappointed in me."

Hearing this, Lily stopped. "No, you don't need to apologize to me. I heard how it happened, if I were in your shoes, I would've made the same decision. Professor Voldemort never give empty threats."

"Even that, I can't hide the fact that I was weak." Harry didn't regret his decision, but he had to admit his lack of courage.

"You don't have any reason to blame yourself like this. I already told you, if I were you, I would've made the same choice, I understand. If, back then, you went against Professor Voldemort's orders, you probability won't even be at Hogwarts right now, not to mention talking to me. So you see, you made the right decision." Lily turned around, surprised that Harry was blaming himself.

"So…can we be friends…?" Harry struggled for a long time and finally said it.

Lily shook her head, it seemed like he still didn't learn his lesson, she thought. "Professor Voldemort wouldn't allow it, not before, not now, not in the future."

Harry felt his heart sank, he knew there was no hope. Voldemort, yes, that man's position on Muggles and Muggleborns made it impossible for Harry. He weakly opened his mouth, "If, in the future, I can do anything for you, anything at all, please ask. I'll do my best." This was the only promise he could make.

Lily's nod didn't make Harry feel any better, which caused him to almost run into James Potter.

"Who do we have here? Harry Potter? You're not at Slytherin's Midnight Bash. It can't be because you can't perform, can it?" Compared to James, Sirius was even more annoying when he spoke.

"Black, don't put your own worries on me. You know Slytherins always look up to Gryffindors for their rashness." Harry refuted.

"Oh, I guess when you have Professor Voldemort behind you, not only does your grades suddenly improve, you can also talk better now." This time, it was James. Although his parents told him that the Potters never lost a member, there were no reasons even close to explain the similarities between Harry and the Potter family. Maybe it _was_ a coincidence, James thought.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but he saw Remus Lupin walking closer to them from standing a bit far away, and drew a breathe of cold air.

Light brown hair! Golden-brown eyes!

Harry remembered the substitute Snape had; he was a substitute for the Remus Lupin in front of him!

Snape was in love with Remus? No wondered he was drinking himself to death.

Harry felt numb, all that happened in a short period of time made him suddenly lose interest in the fight before him. He used the trick taught to him by Voldemort and hissed loudly, {Beat it!}

Anger could always bring out fear in people, not to mention adding on the horrifying sounds of Parseltongue. Even though James and Sirius may be famous for not being afraid of anything, both of them stumbled back.

Harry used this opportunity to push through them and quickly got back to the Slytherin common room. The common room was still as crazy as when he left it. Harry gave Snape a complicated look. He still had all of his clothes on him, though the boy on his lap was screaming in pleasure. Just by thinking about who Snape was seeing through that boy, Harry wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. Snape love Remus, he wanted to be friends with his future mother, both of them failed. It seemed like they should grieve together and comfort each other.

*****

Harry woke up early on Sunday morning. After a long and hot shower, he was in a much better mood than last night. Now, he was ready and willing to move forward with his life.

When Harry came out of the bathroom, he saw Snape already dressed, waiting for him to go to the Great Hall. "Severus, you're up already?" Harry wasn't aware when Snape came back to their room last night, but by the energetic looks of Snape's partner when he came back to the common room, Harry knew it wasn't too early.

Maybe it was because Harry wanted to see it, but it seemed like he saw a flash of sadness in Snape's black eyes.

"I didn't want to miss breakfast."

Breakfast didn't disappoint them; it was very rich, with different plates covering the entire table. After last night's – no, this morning's – events, the Slytherin table was less than half full, even Lucius was missing. With this, it was very easy for Harry to see the Gryffindor table on the other side of the room.

James and Sirius were whispering together, Remus was smiling and passing a plate of eggs to another girl. Harry subconsciously turned his head and caught a glimpse of Snape looking affectionately at Remus right before he looked back down at his plate – although to Remus, that was a look of hatred.

Snape, being caught by Harry looking at Remus, all the sudden lost his all-time coolness and became flustered, he even dropped his fork to the floor. Harry sighed a little at this. As Snape bent down to pick up his fork, Harry took another look at the Gryffindor table, trying to find Lily.

Maybe it was the mysterious mother-son connection playing with them; Harry looked right into Lily's eyes, who was also looking straight at him. Lily gave him a complicated looked for a couple of seconds before looking away without hesitation.

Harry, feeling dejected, looked down at his plate, he just lost his appetite.

What Harry didn't know was, in the few seconds that Harry and Lily were looking at each other, to everyone else, it may seem normal; but there were two people in the Great Hall that saw them and knew there was something going on between them.

After Filch checked over their permission slips, Harry and Snape arrived at Hogsmead. Snape was in a terrible mood; his head was down, with his long-black hair blocking his face; he was giving off a terrifying aura that made people stay at least twenty feet away from him.

In order to cheer him up, Harry handed him a piece of chocolate, but he threw it right back at Harry; Harry dragged him to Honeydukes and promised to buy all the candy and chocolate Snape wanted, but he just grabbed Harry's hand and left.

"Hey! Come one, cheer up, Severus! Can't you just be a little bit happy? We came here to have fun today!" Harry kicked the ground in frustration.

"You're really in the mood to have fun with me?" Snape, who had been quiet the entire time, opened his mouth, but what came out really confused Harry.

"Of course!" Harry opened his money bag, inside was at least 100 galleons. "I brought money too!" Before, it had always been Snape who paid for him, now he had money, of course he would pay for Snape. It wasn't his money, Harry didn't really care how much he spent; and probably the more Harry spent, the happier Voldemort would be.

Snape raised his head and stared right into Harry's eyes. "Last night…no, this morning, after the Midnight Bash, Lucius told me he told you about it."

"Oh."

"And this morning, you saw me."

"So?" Harry was really confused now.

"You must think I'm a slut, don't you? He hate me so much, the way he looks at me is like looking at his worst enemy; but I'm in love with him. As long as he talks to me, I would be overwhelmed with joy, even if what he said was the darkest curse. I'm such a slut." By now, Snape was almost in tears, he was beginning to hate himself. "I'm a traitor to Slytherin's proud tradition, traitor to my own beliefs, all for some one who doesn't even want to look at me. If it wasn't for Professor Voldemort still needing me, I would've, a long time ago…"

"STOP!" Harry jumped in front of Snape and covered his mouth with his hand before anything more preposterous came out. "Severus, mate, you're too agitated right now, you don't even know what you're saying. Let's go to the Three Broomsticks, have some Butterbeer and something to eat. When you have calmed down, we can talk some more, OK?"

At that, Snape's frantic eyes seemed to calm down a bit, he took down Harry's hand on his mouth and asked, "Why not Hog's Head?"

"The more people there are, the less likely we'll be overheard by someone." Hagrid taught him this.

The Three Broomsticks was full as usually, the younger Rosmerta was attracting even more attention from the customers.

Harry brought over two Butterbeer and was happy to see that Snape was eating a piece of chocolate cake.

"Have some Butterbeer, Severus. No matter what happens, we're best friends, you need to trust me." Said Harry.

Snape took a mouthful of Butterbeer and a little red appeared on his sallow skin.

"What you just said to me outside, you must have said it to yourself many times before, right?" Harry asked, but Snape didn't answer. "You shouldn't give up hope…um…love…love is not a crime," Harry was fighting himself to find the right thing to say to comfort Snape, "There's nothing wrong with falling in love with someone, people will always fall in love with someone else." Harry took a sip of his own Butterbeer, feeling very happy with his speech.

Snape's eyes flashed with light, "You really think so?"

"Of course." Harry nodded his head, "Of course I think so! Even though I might be kind of slow when it came to my own love life, that doesn't mean I can't help you Severus. As long as you're sure you want it, no matter how hard it is, I'll help you get it." Harry firmly made his promise. Silently, he thought, once Snape made his decision, he'll be forced to that decision forever; then in the future, if Remus lost James and Sirius, at least he will have some one else with him that will love him.


	7. Chapters 26 to 30

**Chapters 26 – 30**

Snape was deeply touched. Before, when Voldemort and Lucius found out the identity of his crush, all they did was try to prevent it from going any further. They advised him nicely, threatened him, yelled at him, found substitutes for him, they did everything anyone can ever think of to stop Snape from going any further. Although Snape knew they were right, they were doing what was good for him, and Snape knew what he wanted was just wishful thinking; but deep down, there was a tiny part of him that was angry at them for not understanding and not supporting him.

Snape knew, many times, Harry didn't act like a Slytherin; but at important times, Harry was more of a Slytherin than anymore. The way Harry gave up Lily's friendship, but supported Snape's love choices without hesitations, made Snape feel happy and sad at the same time. He knew there was no future to this crush, but he would never forget Harry's friendship.

"But…" Harry hesitated, should he tell Snape about that? He wasn't sure to what degree Snape loved Remus, would he accept that Remus was a werewolf?

"But what?" Snape was confused at Harry's hesitation, "If there's something you're worried about, just tell me." He was just happy that Harry was willing to help.

"…um…if…if Lupin…if he has a small problem…tiny problem…would you still love him?" Harry tried to prepare Snape for what he wanted to ask next.

Snape drank some more Butterbeer, his face was bright red now, "A small problem? I'm fine with that big problem he…" He stopped what he was saying and looked around him cautiously. When he saw that no one was paying attention to him, he relaxed a little.

"What do you think about werewolves?" Snape asked, his voice was as low as possible.

Harry almost choked on the piece of candy he had in his mouth. "What…what did you say?" Did Snape knew about this? Who told him this? Voldemort? It's possible. As a professor, Voldemort must knew Lupin was a werewolf, he was probably also opposed to Lupin coming to school.

Snape must have misunderstood Harry's reaction; he thought Harry was scared as it was very common for people to be scared of werewolves. Because of this, Snape was even more worried about Lupin's situation, he might a bit be better when he's at Hogwarts right now, but what happens when his poor Lupin graduates? "Not…nothing."

"You just said," Harry looked around and lowered his voice, "Werewolves!"

Snape denied that straight away, "I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!" Snape yelled that, while thinking about whether or not he should use some unfriendly methods to make Harry forget about some things.

This kind of argument was useless, Harry told himself. He decided to take a chance and if the situation deteriorated, then he could always Obliviate Snape, although that was his last resort. "Tell me the truth, Severus, did you know that…Lupin was a werewolf?" He stared at Snape, not wanting to miss a single reaction.

Snape's eyes opened wide, his face showed: surprise, confusion, unbelievable, and a bit of joy, there was no trace of fear. "You knew too?" He answered Harry's question indirectly.

Harry collapsed onto the table in relief, "Yeah, I knew, I was making Lunar Charts for fun." He tried to make up an excuse, "I'm more interested in how you found out?"

"Professor Voldemort told me. When Dumbledore decided to accept Lupin, many professors were against it, Professor Voldemort was the one most against the idea." Though so, Harry said to himself. "He didn't think it was safe and that they were playing with the students' safety, but Dumbledore was set on the idea."

Snape's confirmed Harry's guess. "So in order for you to give up, he told you this secret, which only professors knew."

Snape nodded, his face was becoming redder. "I was shocked at the beginning, really shocked. But it wasn't Lupin's fault that he became a werewolf; he was only a child, he couldn't protect himself, he was just a victim." Snape finished his Butterbeer.

Harry patted his shoulders in comfort, and went to the bar to get some soda. Snape may pass out right there if he had anymore drinks with alcohol in them.

"This was the problem I was referring to, I don't think it's a problem at all." Harry, now very used to the luxury goods offered to him by Voldemort, did _not_ like the taste of this soda. "The main thing is what are you going to do? Continue with this secret crush, or take a chance and do something about it?"

Snape never liked soda water, after a sip, he frowned and pushed the glass aside. "I can't give up now, I'm falling to deep. Every time I think about becoming his enemy for real, the pain that comes with it was probably greater than _Crucio_. But doing something…I can't." Snape thought about it for awhile and shook his head.

Harry wasn't happy, "Why not? Lupin is a pure-blood, he's nice and smart. Just because he's a Gryffindor can't be Voldy's only opposing factor in this relationship."

Hearing this, Snape looked at him weirdly and smirked, "Sometimes you really are a Gryffindor, speaking without thinking first."

Seeing Harry's confusion, he explained, "You should know about the war between Professor Voldemort and Dumbledore, right? The war will breakout sooner or latter. If Lupin fell in love with me, what should he do then? What should I do then?"

Harry staggered. Yes, the war will breakout very soon. If Lupin also fell in love with Snape, then this relationship will become a foreseeable tragedy.

"Not to mention, Lupin will never fall in love with me. There's no mediation between us and the Marauders." Snape finished his soda, even though he hated the taste, "I'm going to get some mead."

Can't do this, can't do that, was he just going to continue this one-sided love affair? Harry thought. "You must be in a lot of pain right now."

"I was prepared a long time ago." Snape forced a smile, "I feel happy just by watching him. The only thing is, after every full moon, he always looked terrible and his body must be in terrible shape from the transformation. He always looked like he felt guilty for something. What if the Shrieking Shack couldn't prevent some idiot from entering, or what if he hurt someone before…he was always so kind, if something like that happened, I'm sure he would want to die because of that."

He felt guilty because he was hanging out with those three idiots the entire time! Harry said to himself. But thinking about the consequences of Lupin's transformation, Harry felt cold sweat coming down from his forehead. He never thought about this before. But now…although Lupin never said anything about hurting some one, but history had already been changed. Who knows what kind of trouble James and Sirius could bring?

Harry hated the James and Sirius in this time period, but Remus had always been a good person, the only downside was that he was always too lenient on his friends. If because of those two, Lupin did something, then Lupin would be the only one blamed by the public.

Maybe the Wolfsbane Potion could allow Lupin, when transformed, to stay more conscious, even if they were out wondering around.

Harry opened his mouth, picking out each word carefully, "Severus, if there's a type of potion – don't ask me how I knew about it – that would allow a werewolf to stay in control while they transformed, allowing them to sleep through the transformation. But the recipe is very complicated and very easy for a beginner to blow-up the cauldron. Do you want to try it?

Snape's eyes lit up really brightly.

"We can make it in the Room of Requirements – you never heard of it? I'll show you – I can ask Voldy to buy the ingredients for us – some of them are very rare – as for time, I think every Sunday is the best; that potion is too complicated, the maker needs to stay by the cauldron all the time."

Harry's suggestions were fully accepted by Snape. They finished their fifth glass of mead in a toast to a successful potion.

As Snape got up to get more drinks from the bar, the door opened and a couple of girls walked in, chatting happily. Lily was the center of attention as always, Harry also recognized Neville's mother, Alice.

Harry paused for a second and turned around, pretending not to notice. Snape's lecture on the war reminded him, even though Hogwarts may seem quiet and peaceful at this moment, but it was just the silence before the storm. He couldn't have any more contacts with Lily, that wouldn't bring any good to her _or_ to him.

Harry's situation was even more complicated than Snape's. He was Voldemort's nephew, the only blood relative recognized by Voldemort. In the eyes of the public, he was the only heir to the childless Voldemort. Once war breaks out, he would right away become the number two enemy of the Order of the Phoenix, no, he might be already. When that happens, Lily, being his friend already, would be in a very difficult situation. Lily might even try to convince to him to leave Voldemort and fight for light.

Harry, knowing the future already, had no intention whatsoever to shed even more blood and sacrifice more lives to try to achieve something that was impossible. Reality had already proved to him, that the righteous lions would never be as cunning as the snakes, with the possibility of being eaten by the poisonous snakes.

Even with the blessing of Merlin and him not thinking right, he helped Dumbledore destroy Voldemort; yes, his friend Lily is happy, but what would happen to him, Heir of the Dark Lord Voldemort? Dumbledore may protect him for awhile, but not forever. Once Dumbledore dies, there's not doubt that he would be sent to Azkaban. People tend to forget kindness quickly and remember hatred for a long time. Compared to sharing saliva with the Dementors, Harry much rather die with Voldemort in battle. Of course, the chances of the Order of the Phoenix winning the war were very close to zero.

After thinking long and hard, Harry decided to stay away from Lily. Then once war breaks out, he wouldn't have to waste more brain cells to deal with Lily. With Harry staying on the dark side, it should be relatively easy for him to safely protect some people.

With a loud bang, the door opened, making a couple of people jump at the sound. James and Sirius walked in as if they owned the place, with Remus walking in with Peter behind them, softly shaking his head.

"Damnit!" Harry cursed at his luck.

James quickly scanned the room, first stopping at Lily, then focusing on Harry.

"Seems like the slave became the master. Snivellus, how does it feel to serve an idiot as master?" James sneered loudly.

"You should ask the person behind you to find out." Snape stared at him with hatred.

"Who are you calling a slave?!" Sirius always had a short temper.

Snape gave a fake laugh, "I didn't say it was you, Black, you claimed that title all by yourself."

"_Stup_ –" Sirius was so frustrated, he took out his wand; but Remus quickly blocked him, "Stop it, Sirius, this is the Three Broomsticks, don't cause any trouble for Madam Rosmerta."

James, after Remus blocked Sirius, grabbed Sirius's wand and said, "Slytherins were always good with their mouth, but you know they can't fight. Otherwise, I really want to challenge the Prince of Slytherin to a duel."

Harry held on to the angry Snape. He never understood how the quick-tempered student Snape turned into the cold, cool-headed Potions Professor.

Standing up from his seat, Harry slowly walked towards James, and shook his index finger at James's self-satisfied smile. "You're wrong, James. We Slytherins are always the gentlemen, we know how to control our rashness. Unlike Gryffindors, who always looked so vigorous like they're going to explode any moment. If you're really that energetic all the time, I suggest you go explore the Shrieking Shack some time."

With that last sentence, the Gryffindor four's bodies all shook a little.

Harry sneered and lowered his voice, "A couple days per mouth, it gets really busy there with so many animals walking around." With this, all four's faces paled to a ghostly white. Harry got closer to James's ear, so only James could hear him, "How could there be a stag in Hogsmeade?"

James's face was deathly white with fear, his eyes were blank while he watched Harry and Snape leave, he couldn't say a thing.

When they walked out of the Three Broomsticks, Snape couldn't wait to ask, "What did you say to James Potter? He looked like he just lost his soul."

Harry just smiled. This was still a secret.

After that wonderful Hogsmeade weekend, Harry and Snape began to prepare for brewing the Wolfsbane Potion. First, Harry listed all the ingredients needed and gave it to Voldemort, who promised a very quick delivery. Then, he took Snape to the Room of Requirements. Third, he wrote out the recipe for the Wolfsbane Potion and had Snape memorize it. Each step of the potion required the brewer's full concentration, Snape won't have time to look at the recipe parchments when brewing it.

*****

Time quickly passed into December, with everyone getting into Christmas spirits. Everyone, you could hear people talking about where they were going for Christmas and what gifts they were getting that year.

Harry was becoming restless, he threw his quill on the table and looked up from his essay on the steps of the Hiccupping Solution. "Voldy, when can I get those ingredients I asked for?" He decided to stay at Hogwarts during Christmas with Snape and brew the first batch of the Wolfsbane Potion, how was he supposed to have fun without the ingredients?

Voldemort took the parchment from Harry's hands, after carefully reading what he wrote and satisfied with the answer, he put an O on the parchment. "You asked for a lot, it wasn't easy getting them that quickly. But don't worry, you'll have it tomorrow."

"Really?" Harry was happy and surprised at the same time. He jumped up from the chair, his face red with joy, making him look very cute at the moment.

Voldemort looked at this not very often seen pretty picture with a smile and nodded, "Of course, they promised."

Yes! Harry gave himself a high five in his mind. This way, he could go on to the next step on his plan.

"What kind of potion are you trying to make? The combination of ingredients seemed very odd." Voldemort was very curious. You could say he read _a lot_ of books, but he never heard of the combination of ingredients that Harry asked for.

Harry was laughing on the inside with self-satisfaction. For once, there was something Voldemort didn't know. For the past month, he was so surprised that his mouth dropped open many times by the amount of knowledge Voldemort knew, it really hurt his self-confidence and self-respect. Now, a little bit of that lost confidence and respect were brought back. Right now, his nose was almost touching the ceiling with an arrogant smile on his face, "I'm not telling you."

Hearing this, Voldemort relaxed, it didn't seem like anything dangerous, he'll let Harry have his fun. "Be safe, if something goes wrong, be sure to call me over."

This tutoring session was supposed to end on this happy note, but Christmas was near.

"Harry, what plans do you have for Christmas?"

Harry didn't have to think about his answer, "I'm staying at Hogwarts with Severus."

The smile disappeared from Voldemort's face. He sat up straighter in surprise and anger, "You want to stay of Hogwarts?"

"Of course, I stayed at Hogwarts for the past four years, I don't want to go back to the orphanage." Harry said as if there was nothing wrong, but seeing Voldemort face, he realized what he just said and clapped his hand to his mouth, silently screaming. He forgot, he forgot, _he forgot_! He had nothing to do with the orphanage anymore, his guardian was the person in front of him.

"You don't need to go back to the orphanage." Voldemort felt defeated. It had been two months, but Harry still forgot sometimes.

"I need to stay at Hogwarts." Harry insisted.

"Christmas is family time, Harry, we're family, remember?" Voldemort tried to make his voice sound calm and soft.

Harry wasn't moved by this, "I think a bigger part is that you wanted to introduce me to those followers of yours that night, those Death Eaters."

Voldemort choked a little, "Of course, you're my only family."

"I don't think I have anything to talk about with your Death Eaters." Harry wasn't even looking at Voldemort. He was concentrating hard on his pronunciation of the Levitation Charm.

"Harry, I'm your guardian!" Voldemort's voice was starting to become hard.

Here it comes again! Harry lifted his head and sneered, "Most often, you like to remind me you're my guardian when you're forcing me to do something."

Voldemort didn't know what to say, didn't Harry know that everyone that talked back to him like that before all went to another world? "You're saying I'm not fitted to be your guardian?"

"I really appreciate everything you did for me, but I think I would appreciate it even more if you could be more considerate of what I want to do." Said Harry, with a little bit of a plea.

Voldemort closed his eyes, quickly thinking of another way to convince Harry. "Fine, Harry, let's both take a step back. You will spend Christmas with me. On Christmas Eve, you don't need to speak with any of my followers if you don't want to."

"I have something really important to do, so I'll go to Voldemort Manor on the 24th, on the 25th…" Harry stole a look at Voldemort's face, "26th, I'll come back to Hogwarts."

"It's a deal." Once he got Harry to his territory, he would have plenty of ways to make Harry stay. Voldemort let out a small, but evil smile.

*****

When Harry returned to his dorm room, he felt very ashamed of himself for leaving Snape all alone during Christmas at Hogwarts. They already decided that they were going to celebrate Christmas together, but now, he was going to spend Christmas with Voldemort. Harry was restless as he waited for Snape's anger.

Contrary to Harry's expectations, Snape was very happy and understanding. "You should spend Christmas with Professor Voldemort, he's the only family you have. Both of you had been alone for so long, you should spend more time together. Also, after you leave for Voldemort Manor on the 24th, don't come back on the 26th; come back to Hogwarts after the break is over."

"I can't do that." Harry objected right away, "The Wolfsbane Potion is too complicated, there are hundreds of steps, you need my help."

"At best, I can start on it tomorrow, I will have plenty of time to get used to it by the 24th. I'm not trying to boast or anything, Harry, but no matter how complicated a potion might be, I can memorize the steps after making it three times. Although the Wolfsbane Potion is much more complicated than anything I ever seen before, my skills in potions won't deteriorate overnight." Snape said with a lot of self confidence.

"But won't you get lonely after spending that long in the castle by yourself?" Harry was still worried.

"I had been alone for the past fourteen years." Snape stared at his shoes while he talked, "This year, I get to spend Christmas with my cauldrons and potions, I won't be alone anymore. Trust me."

Having nothing more to say, Harry agreed.

*****

Christmas arrived in a blur, a large potion of the students decided to go home. Lucius did invite Snape to spend Christmas at Malfoy Manor, but Snape declined.

At 5:00 pm on December 24th, Harry said good-bye to Snape and arrived at Voldemort Manor in the flying carriage sent by Voldemort. When he arrived, a couple hundred of House-Elves were at the gates welcoming Harry. They were all wearing the same pillowcase uniforms, all very clean with the Voldemort crest printed on them.

Voldemort, already knew that Harry would be very tired from the half hour of flying, gently forced Harry to eat some dinner, then commanded some House-Elves to draw up a bath for Harry and have him go to bed early.

After all, the main attraction was tomorrow night's Christmas Party.

On Christmas morning, Harry jumped out of his soft bed and said Merry Christmas to Hedwig, who was still not really used to her golden cage. He gave her some of her Christmas present – new flavoured owl treats – and began to unwrap his own Christmas presents.

He received a very small pile of gifts. Snape's present was three bottles of a molten gold potion, Harry opened one bottle and sniffed it. A deep memory was brought forth; that feeling of luck told Harry that these three bottles contained the Felix Felicis! Compared to Slughorn's prize, Snape's bottles were much bigger, there was enough for 24 hours. So three bottles meant three whole days!

His second gift, the writing belonged to Voldemort, but it was signed Nagini. A snake gave him a Christmas present? Harry felt really weird.

Nagini's present was a golden hair-clip with hundreds of tiny diamonds. Harry had to admit, as a snake, Nagini did have pretty good taste.

The last present was from Voldemort, a very thick tome, _Top Defence Against the Dark Arts_. Harry flipped through a couple of pages and immediately, he learned something new.

It seemed like he and Voldemort really think a like. Harry didn't know whether he should cry or laugh.

When Harry entered the dinning room, Nagini was happily coiled up on a white sheep skin rug. {Thank you for the present, Harry!} She sounded really happy. {This is my first present ever, Voldy never give me presents.}

Voldemort snorted quietly, {As a snake, your only goal in life should be having enough food to fill your stomach.} Then he waved the book he had in his hand, and smiled brightly. "Thank you for the gift, Harry." He didn't think Harry would give him a present.

That was the result of Harry and Snape's secret trip to Knockturn Ally, _Newest Dark Curses_.

"But you shouldn't go there, it's too dangerous. Knockturn Ally is not for underage wizards." Voldemort, even now, felt scared thinking about it. He really wanted to tie Harry to him all the time, so he won't be able to go anywhere that dangerous. Good thing Harry had Slytherin's Locket on him.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, not really caring. Did Voldemort really think he wanted to go there? If it wasn't for finding a present for Voldemort, he didn't even want to look at places like that.

After breakfast, which was many times more amazing than Hogwarts' breakfast, Voldemort suggested, "Do you want to open presents?"

"Presents?" Harry was confused, didn't he open all of his presents already?

Voldemort smiled, very pleased at Harry's confusion, "Follow me."

Harry and Nagini followed Voldemort out of the dinning room and stopped in front of a door. Voldemort gracefully opened the door and Harry felt his jaw drop at the sight inside the room.

Almost two times the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, the room was filled with presents from the floor to the ceiling. The presents were of varying colors, shapes, and sizes. There were three House-Elves busy taking turns to pile more boxes onto the mountain of presents.

"A little something from my followers. None of them are worth much, but good thing none of them are fake." Voldemort unwrapped a box as he talked, "If you like it, keep it, if not, throw them away."

A little something not worth much! Harry looked at the antique silver tea set in his hands with a wry smile. He remembered seeing the same set in Diagon Ally before, the price then was 2,100 Galleons. Of course, compared to that pair of 5,000 Galleons boots, this really wasn't worth that much.

In the end, Harry didn't open any of those presents, the House-Elves had the honour. There were gifts of all kinds, light magic, dark magic, Muggle things, some one even gave him a naked Veela. Harry was worried she might freeze to death.

But, he was still muddled, he didn't know what to do with a Veela. In the end, he gave the Veela to Voldemort, as for what Voldemort was going to do with the Veela, he didn't really care. The Veela was never seen again in Voldemort Manor. Some time later, when Harry remembered, Voldemort brushed over the fact that the Veela was sent to Malfoy Manor.

At 7:50 that night, all the preparations were finished. There were decorations and Christmas trees everywhere and the tables were covered with delicious food and different types of wine. At 8:00, the party started.

Other than at the beginning of the party, when Voldemort introduced him to his Death Eaters, Harry spent the rest of the time hiding in a quiet corner. Many young men and women were eagerly trying to get his attention, but were scared away by his cold glares. Just like Harry expected, he did not fit in well with these high society parties that were filled with hypocrites. If it wasn't the only party until the end of the Christmas break, Harry was sure he would return to Hogwarts the next day.

Compared to Harry not fitting in, Voldemort was completely different. He was like a fish in the water at this party. He was elegant, resplendent, and aristocratical; he was easily the most dazzling person in the entire room. Also, being a dark wizard, he hard a powerful magical aura that surrounded him. His cold appearance and forever darkness forced everyone to kneel at his feet. He was their ruler, he was their king.

It was very hard to imagine the Voldemort that was kind, gentle and always wanted to spoil Harry was the same person standing before the Death Eaters right now. The act he put on in the Slytherin common room was only minimal compared to right now.

Harry didn't know and didn't want to know which one was the real Voldemort; many people have different sides. Of course, the cold and dark side was more fitted to the always ready to kill Dark Lord. It was easier to manipulate people's feelings when you don't have feelings yourself. Only people with dark minds could think of plots that destroyed people's heart and mind barriers when they were least expecting them. Only this Voldemort could defeat the Order of the Phoenix.

If a weakness must be found within this person, it could be Harry. Harry couldn't understand why Voldemort was so good and kind to him. This kindness could not be explained by blood relations only.

At a time like this when war could break out any moment, how could Voldemort allow his only heir to go against him? To Voldemort, blood couldn't be more important than a victory. However, Voldemort expressed his consent in Harry choosing the Muggle Liaison Office. Because of this, Harry was very confused about the way Voldemort had been treating him. The way that Voldemort treats him with gentle and kindness that flow from the heart, was it a trap so he could use Harry in the future?

"…So I tied that Muggle woman onto a tree, and took off her clothes one by one until she was naked. I let her hang there until the next morning when some one found her. Ha ha ha…!" Two drunken Death Eaters found their way and tumbled into Harry's quiet corner. They were praising each other on the glorious moments of how they played and tortured Muggles. They were howling with laughter, until they suddenly raised their heads and stared right into Harry's cold and furious eyes.

"Ma…Master Harry! We…Muggle…No…" The two of them were so scared that they couldn't finish a proper sentence. Before they came to the party, they were already warned that the new Young Master liked Muggles, and that they shouldn't say anything he won't like in front of him.

Harry squeezed the wineglass in his hand, and said angrily while grinding his teeth, "I want silence."

"Huh?" It was very different than the punishment they were thinking about, the two Death Easters were at a loss.

"Harry meant get out of his sight right now!" The cold and enraged voice belonged to Voldemort. He was planning on chatting a little with Harry and then tell him to go to bed early, but was met with this scene.

"Yes, Almighty Master!" The two petrified Death Eaters ran with all their might to the other side of the room.


	8. Chapters 31 to 35

**Chapters 31 – 35 **

Voldemort was utterly annoyed. "Harry, don't think too much about it. Those two aren't worth it for you to be angry."

Harry wanted to smile and then say, 'Oh, I'm fine, I didn't hear anything'. But he felt too depressed right now that his facial muscles felt numb, in such a way that it lost its ability to fake a smile.

That was weird, didn't he already predict that he would face situations like this already? Didn't he already gave up trying to save the Muggles? Why was he still angry when he heard those things that he knew would happen? Was he angry at what those Death Eaters did? Or was he angry at his uselessness and weakness, causing him to lose to Voldemort in the future? Harry gave up trying to smile and coolly shook his head, "I'm fine, I didn't hear anything."

"Those two bastards!" Voldemort drew his wand, but Harry grabbed his hand instantly. "I don't blame them for anything, and you shouldn't punish them for being uninformed either."

"I might believe you if your hands aren't shaking because of anger." Voldemort held up Harry's slightly trembling hand, Harry shook off Voldemort's hand instantly as if he was being electric-shocked.

"I'm not angry, really," Harry's felt like there was something stuck in his throat that made it hard to speak, "Really, I'm not angry." He quickly left the ballroom and walked into a side parlour.

Voldemort followed him into the parlour and continued their conversation, "You're not happy anymore and they ruined that."

"So they should be punished because of that?" Harry sneered, "I didn't know I'm that important."

Voldemort tried to hug Harry, but Harry broke free from his arms. He rubbed his nose bridge in defeat, "Harry, of course you're important, more than you can imagine."

"Yes, I'm very important, so important that you need to force me to come to Voldemort Manor, and then have two drunken idiots come and test my patience." Harry wasn't even looking at Voldemort when he said that.

"Harry, I'm really sorry. I didn't think they would say those stupid things once they become drunk." Voldemort felt helpless, people say things when they are drunk.

Harry sneered, "I warned you already, you promised me that it won't happen."

"I know that I forced you to come to the party and that I didn't keep my promise, so you must be really angry right now." Voldemort tried to hug Harry again. He hugged him tightly, not letting him break free. "To make it up to you, Harry, you can have anything you want."

Harry laughed quietly, the sadness in his laughter gave Voldemort a bad feeling. "Then, in order for me to be happy forever, my dear _uncle_, can you so _benevolent_ as to stop everything in regards to torturing Muggles?"

Harry lifted his head with a big sneer on his face.

Voldemort stiffened and his hands let go of Harry. His crimson eyes stared right into Harry's bright green eyes without blinking, as if to see if Harry was joking. Harry stared right back at him, his eyes full of mockery.

"No," Voldemort spoke after a long silence, "Muggles are low-life disgusting creatures, they don't deserve to live." Which was his bottom line.

"So stop being a hypocrite, dear uncle. Those two spoke of the truth that you and I didn't want to face, they're not wrong. As for me, I agreed to come to this Death Eater party, which means I already gave up my ideals and beliefs, I'm not even angry when those two Death Eaters joked right in my face about torturing Muggles, even if that poor woman might be related to me. I'm not angry, what are you angry about, my dear uncle?" Harry sneered. He broke free from Voldemort's hands. "I'm very tired, I'm going back to my room, please don't bother me, dear uncle."

Voldemort grabbed Harry's hand without thinking, but a cold wand was pressed into his throat, "You're testing my patience, dear uncle. Don't force me to use Avada Kedavra." Harry coldly warned him.

After a few seconds, Voldemort let go of his hand, letting Harry leave.

BANG!

Voldemort punched the wall out of anger, scaring everyone in the ballroom. Damnit, everything was a mess!

Harry returned to his room and began to pack for returning to Hogwarts. There were too many differences between Voldemort and him, these differences won't go away no matter how good Voldemort was to him. Something like what happened today was deemed to happen again if they have this argument again.

Voldemort and him were like two tightrope walkers, each trying to find balance from the surroundings, a tiny mistake could cause them their current good relationship.

Harry already gave up too many things, his ideals, his beliefs, his sense of justice, the only thing he haven't given up yet was his bottom line. As long as he didn't see, he didn't hear, then nothing existed. But now, he couldn't pretend anymore, what he was trying to avoid was laid out in the open.

Did he really need to become a Death Eater that took pleasure in torturing Muggles? Voldemort always said that Harry was so important that he couldn't be replaced, then why couldn't Voldemort just yield a little if he was that important?

{Harry.} Nagini swam into Harry's room.

{Yes, Nagini?} Harry asked while putting some clothes into his trunk.

Nagini blocked Harry, his yellow eyes full of pleading, {Don't go, Harry, please! I apologize for Voldy! Don't go.}

Harry waved his wand, his school supplies stood in a line in midair and one-by-one placed itself into his trunk. {Nagini, this is between me and Voldy, there's no mediation between us on this issue. If Voldy can't change, then it would be torture for me to stay here.}

Nagini wrapped herself on Harry's leg; it was hard to imagine such a large snake, when doing something like this, could be so careful as if taking care of a newborn baby. {Harry, if you can't stay for Voldy, then can you at least stay for me? I'm really lonely. Other than Voldy, not one can speak to me, but Voldy is always really busy, he doesn't have that much time to spend with me. Harry, I have always been pretty good to you, don't punish me for Voldy's mistake. I love you, Harry.}

Harry couldn't reject those eyes that were full of sadness and pleading. For the past few months, he had had a pretty good relation with Nagini; but just thinking about Voldemort made him want to leave right away. {Just thinking about living with him make me feel terrible, Nagini.}

{You won't be Harry.} Seeing Harry's reaction, Nagini tried even harder to make him stay. {Voldemort Manor is really big, it's easy to avoid someone. Please Harry!}

{If it's possible to avoid him.} Harry Muttered.

*****

Nagini was right, it was very easy to purposely avoid someone in Voldemort Manor; a big manor such as this, one could spend an entire day in a corner doing things. Not to mention, Nagini was a very good companion.

Very soon, it was New Year's Eve.

At nine in the morning, Harry walked downstairs for breakfast. Harry was surprised to see the House-Elves clearing away the untouched breakfast from Voldemort's place at the table.

Harry tried, but couldn't hold it in and asked Nagini, who was coiled up on the couch under the sun. {Why didn't he eat breakfast?} After Christmas, Harry had been calling Voldemort 'he'.

Nagini yawned. {Don't worry, he's like this every year today. He'll be fine after today.}

{Every year today…?} Harry repeated unbelievingly, {What could it be?}

Nagini yawned again, {He's an adult, he knows how to take care of himself. Little children should think about having fun.} She lifted her tail and handed something to Harry.

Harry grabbed it; it was a Muggle wallet with a thick pile of cash inside, {This…?}

{This was a surprise for you, prepared before you came. Voldy was planning on taking you to Muggle London on the 26th, to some amusement par...}

{Amusement park} Harry corrected her.

{Eat some haburgor…}

{Hamburger.}

{See some wuvee…}

{Movie, Nagini.}

{Anyways, having fun. But you two got into a fight and are in a cold war right now. So he wanted me to go out with you today and have some crazy fun.}

Hearing Nagini, Harry felt like there was something stuck in his throat. Voldemort was planning on taking him to Muggle London, amusement park, eat hamburgers, watch movies? No one would believe Harry if he told them that. From another point of view, Voldemort really wanted to spoil him; but they had different ideals and beliefs. This on the surface kind act of trying to spoil him only made Harry, who already seen the truth, even sadder.

The closet in Harry's room contained some Muggle winter clothes. Harry put on a pair of jeans and a light yellow sweater, with a black coat on the outside and his wand in the pocket. Nagini shrunk smaller and wrapped herself on Harry's wrist, like a bracelet.

Harry and Nagini first floo to the Leaky Cauldron and then came out to Muggle London.

It was the holidays; the streets were filled with people. Even though Harry had been a child twice, he never had a chance to tour London. Having no idea where to go, Harry brought a London guide book, which really surprised Nagini, {Did you really grow up in Muggle London?!}

First, they went to the amusement park. That really was the heaven for children, filled with parents playing with children of all ages.

Nagini was disdained at the Muggle things, {You can't even compare it to the Magical World!} Until she went on the rollercoaster with Harry. The stimulus of the rollercoaster only allowed her to say, {It felt like playing Quidditch.}

Under Nagini's insistent demand, Harry rode the coaster another 14 times, until she was satisfied. {It's so much fun, so exciting! You should know, Voldy prefers to Apparate, I never experienced being in the sky before. It would be awesome to have something like this at the Manor, then I can be in the sky whenever I want to.}

{Ask him to build you one.}

For lunch, they ate at a fast-food restaurant, hamburgers, fried chicken, fries, soft drinks…filled the entire table. Harry never ate much, but a 12 meters snake had a big appetite, even though Nagini may have shrunk in size. She finished an entire table full of food and then wanted Harry to buy more food for her. Harry felt like he rather die than to buy more food. {We'll buy more before we go back tonight.} Hopefully when they came back, it would be different people working.

Their trip after lunch didn't go according to plan. First, Nagini was attracted by the TV in an electronics store's window. {Harry, there are people moving in there! But, it's kind of weird.}

{The Muggle World is different than the Magical World, Nagini. They…um…they're not real, they're only pictures, you can't touch them.}

{Harry, is it telling a story? Why did it finish without an ending?} Nagini was disappointed.

{This is a TV show, Nagini. The story is really long, they need to spread it into many days to show it. It seems like today's episode is finished already.}

Nagini was even more disappointed.

Harry didn't know what to do. {I don't know what to do, Nagini. There's no TV or TV shows in the Magical World. Unless you buy one and bring it back to the manor, and then do something so you can use it in the Magical World and also get a signal. Then, you can keep on watching this TV show.}

Nagini was very happy with that suggestion. {Then buy a TV, you have enough money.}

{He won't agree.} Harry reminded her. Voldemort would be reluctant enough to build a rollercoaster in the manor's garden, now a TV? Harry could already imagine the look on Voldemort's face.

"Buy it, buy it, buy it, buy it…! Otherwise I can't sleep!} Nagini was planning on doing whatever she could to get a TV, even rolling around on the ground like a baby.

Harry had to give up. {We'll buy one before we go back tonight, alright? It's really big and heavy, we can't carry it with us.}

Nagini quickly agreed. Harry let go of a breathe, ready for their next stop, but ––

{Harry, Harry, what's that?} Even Nagini's hissing voice changed with her excitement.

Harry looked at where Nagini's tail was point at, {Oh, that's a movie theatre.}

{Movie theatre? What's that?}

{A place where they show movies. A movie is a story, but the length of the story is much shorter than a TV show, and there's more variety. But you can't ask me to take a movie theatre home, Nagini. I refuse. I don't want him to kill me.} See the shining stars in Nagini's eyes, Harry rejected before she even asked.

Nagini slyly hissed, {I just wanted to watch a movie.}

As if that's all you would want, Harry thought depressingly.

Just as Harry thought, when they walked out of the movie theatre, Nagini was screaming and crying, wanting to watch more movies. In the end, Harry brought a VCR and almost all the movies in the store to satisfy Nagini.

Until now, Harry didn't even know anymore if today was for him to have fun or for Nagini to have fun.

When the sky darkened, Harry came back to the Leaky Cauldron with bags filled with shrunken Muggle items. The carriage from Voldemort Manor was already there, waiting to take him back.

When they returned to the manor, Harry told the House-elves to put the purchases in Nagini's room and make it so they could use it with Magic around, while he took a bag of the fast-food he brought and placed it outside Voldemort's study, then rigidly knocked on the door.

Harry still wasn't planning on seeing Voldemort, so he turned around and left. But when he walked to the end of the hallway, there was still no sound coming from the door. Harry already asked the House-Elves and made sure that Voldemort was in his study. So the quietness caught Harry's attention. Harry stopped walking and realized that something was off.

Today was New Year's Eve, it should be a day filled with joy and happiness, but the entire manor was very quiet and empty, with the House-Elves jumping at every sound, they were being even more careful with their tasks than usual. Voldemort didn't eat breakfast, and when Harry asked the House-elves just now, they told him that Voldemort didn't eat any lunch or dinner either. Harry was free any other day, so why did Voldemort let Nagini go out with him today? It seemed like he was trying to let Harry stay away or something. Harry looked at the door and a bad feeling was formed inside him. Could there be something wrong with Voldemort?

Harry scowled at himself for that stupid thought. If there was something wrong with Voldemort, how could Voldemort Manor be so quiet and peaceful? Plus, Voldemort himself was a very powerful wizard, how could there possibly be anything wrong?

But this thought was stuck in his head and won't go away. He knew very well that Voldemort enjoyed researching different dark magic. Dark magic could allow a wizard to increase his magical ability quicker than light magic, but the downside was also very grave. Voldemort's arrogant personality won't allow him to show any kind of weakness. There was a possibility that he was enduring lots of pain right now by himself.

Just thinking about Voldemort being sick in bed and was in so much pain that he couldn't even eat anything for the entire day made Harry felt like there was a rock in his stomach. The happiness he got from having fun in Muggle London quickly disappeared, replaced by worry for that man.

Even though Harry may hate him and felt like he couldn't communicate properly with him; for the past two months, that man had been really good to him and made him felt like he really had a family. It felt similar to when he was spending time with Sirius – of course, a couple of days ago, Harry wouldn't admit that – he couldn't just walk away while knowing that that man might be enduring pain by himself.

_Alohomora_!

The door slowly opened, it was very dark inside, you almost couldn't even see your hand inside the room. Harry shivered at the cold air. All the windows were covered with curtains except for one, with silver moonlight shining in.

Voldemort sat in an armchair staring at the darkness outside the window. His handsome face shined under the moonlight. His crimson eyes seemed like the most expensive rubies in the world. Under this darkness, he was a prince. He didn't need to do anything, just by elegantly sitting there under the moonlight, Harry felt like his heart stopped. Harry felt like he was hallucinating, that he saw the most beautiful angel, Satan Lucifer, beautiful, but dark.

A voice said, "Are you alright?" After a few seconds, Harry realized that it was his own voice.

Voldemort turned his head, his beautiful eyes took away Harry's thoughts, "I'm fine, I'll be alright tomorrow, you can go."

"But you haven't eaten anything all day." Harry said softly.

Voldemort let out a smile, but it made people feel sadder than if he was crying. "I'm not hungry."

"I'll be an idiot to believe you." Harry quickly walked towards Voldemort and dropped a bag on his knees. "My present. I'll leave after you finish eating. I don't want to see you either." After that, he brought an armchair in front of Voldemort and sat down, crossing his legs.

Harry didn't mean for his attitude to be like that; that was not the right kind attitude when trying to encourage people to eat. But Harry didn't like that sad smile on the face of the man in front of him. That Voldemort seemed like he lost his soul. The Voldemort in Harry's mind was always haughty, arrogant, and look down at everyone from high above with a sneer on his face while giving orders. But how could he have that smile that was so lonely and depressed as if he didn't even want to live anymore? That look was Harry Potter's prerogative when he was staying at Uncle Venon's house. With that Harry had a bad mood along with a bad attitude.

Voldemort looked down, his pale white hands opened the bag, took out a piece of fried chicken and put it in his mouth. He hate Muggles, he hate Muggle food, especially those food that seemed to be greasy with no nutrients. But it was Harry's order to eat it, the one who had been on cold war with him for the past four days. Even if it was a mud, he would eat it without thinking twice about it.

He thought Harry wouldn't give him a gift; even if there was a slim chance that Harry did get him a gift, it would only be left outside the door. Because for the past four days, Harry was really angry, so angry he won't even spare him a look. But now, Harry came in to his room. When he heard Harry's footsteps, Harry's worried voice, his heart melted. Could there be an angel that was kinder and gentler than his Harry? The gentleness that Harry didn't even realize he had could melt the toughest rock.

Even though Voldemort was moved by this, he didn't want Harry to see his weak side. He didn't want to change Harry's view of him; he still wanted to remain as that powerful and cool-headed wizard with endless knowledge; he didn't want Harry to know that he didn't even have the courage to face his own birthday.

Voldemort wanted Harry to leave, but Harry decided to stay, ordered him to eat, and looked at him with arrogance and provocation in his eyes. Oh, his little angel, the forced arrogance in his eyes couldn't cover his true feelings; the flash of concern deep down in his eyes betrayed him.

Voldemort carefully ate everything in the bag, friend chicken, hamburger, salad, soup, and the drink, which caused Harry to be very satisfied with him. "I thought you were sick, seems like I was wrong."

"I'm like this everyday this year, Nagini and them are all used to it by now, you'll get used to it too." Voldemort fell back into depression again.

It seemed like a bad memory, Harry thought. He should leave now, after knowing that the man was only torturing himself; he didn't want to disturb the man's weird way of entertainment. But before he left, he had something to say, "Enduring emotional pain by yourself is the dumbest thing to do, it will cause you more pain. Find someone you trust the most and tell that person the pain you feel. You will feel much better afterwards." From his last life till now, he always went through his sufferings like that, it worked pretty well for him. He thought Nagini would be happy to help Voldemort with his pain and sufferings.

Harry stood up, but a hand grabbed his right hand, "Harry, don't leave."

Voldemort's hand was cold as ice. Before, Harry was only worried about Voldemort's feelings and didn't notice that there was no fire in the room and no warming spells either, while Voldemort was only wearing a thin shirt. He sat like this for the entire day? Merlin! Does he even know how to take care of himself? Thought Harry.

Harry let loose his hand, took out his wand and put up a fire in the fireplace, then he cast a warming spell five times in a row, until the room slowly warmed up. After that, Harry had the time to sneer at the man, "I don't have time to sit with you in a freezing cold room and stare at the moon, I still have a lot of homework to do."

Voldemort looked at him, his eyes filled with sadness.

Harry felt a headache coming up, why was this man looking at him like that? It made him feel like he was bullying him or something. But Merlin, he didn't do anything!

Harry gave up and dejectedly slumped into the armchair. "What do you want now?"

Once again, Voldemort's face sunk into depression. "Today's my birthday." He said quietly.

"Oh? Harry Birthday." Harry generously gave him a smile. There must be something wrong with this man, hating his own birthday.

"My mother's name was Merope Gaunt. She was the descendent of the noble Salazar Slytherin. But she died an hour after I was born. She only had enough time to name me, Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Harry didn't say anything, but listened quietly. It seemed like Voldemort decided to use his suggestion and decided used him as an emotional garbage bin for his bad feelings. Now Harry felt depressed, he was still in a cold war with Voldemort! Why did he have to stay and listen to Voldemort's pain and sufferings? Especially since he knew the content already!

"Tom Riddle was my father's name, Marvolo was my grandfather's name. She wanted me to look like my father. Other than that, she didn't leave me with anything else. If she was a Muggle and died of childbirth, I wouldn't blame her for anything. But she was a witch! She was the descendent of Salazar Slytherin, a Gaunt! She was so weak that she gave up her life, like a Muggle. She was a shame to her brave and noble father!"

Brave and noble? That old crazy idiot Marvolo Gaunt? Harry's lips twitched little without being seen by Voldemort.

"The reason that she was so weak and died was because the man she loved, that Muggle man, Tom Riddle, left her, causing her to have no more courage to live anymore. She didn't even want to try to keep on living for me, her only child, her own blood and flesh. She left me for that Muggle, she discarded me in an orphanage for that Muggle, she even named me after that Muggle, just because she wish I would grow up and look like that Muggle! But that Muggle didn't even want to think about her, he even wanted to erase my existence from this world! The daughter of Gaunt fell in love with this kind of man. Ha ha ha..." Voldemort was laughing, but Harry preferred if he went on an anger rage.

"That's why I hate her. I hated that her selfishness and weakness caused me to lose my mother, lose the love of a mother, I hated how she left me in an orphanage and left me grow up all alone, I hated how she so stupidly tainted her own ancient pureblood line and fell in love with a Muggle. When I was little, I almost thought that my birth was a mistake, after knowing the truth, I believed even more that my birth was a mistake. If I had just a tiny bit of use, then why would that woman leave me for a Muggle?" By now, Voldemort was like a wounded wild animal, his handsome face was twisted with pain.

"Yes, as a mother, she was too weak." Harry agreed with Voldemort. Compared to the future Lily, who sacrificed her life for her son, Merope Riddle's weakness was hard for people to sympathize with. Having seen Voldemort being bullied when he was little, Harry could understand Voldemort's hatred towards Merope. Even Harry himself, many times before he understood the truth about his parents' death, he hated his parents for not getting into a car crash with him inside, so he could have died with them, which was many times better than living a torturous life. Especially since Merope Riddle left his son on purpose, she was so weak that she didn't even want to live with her son. This blow to the always proud Voldemort was not any weaker than knowing that his father was a Muggle.

Harry agitatedly scratched his messy hair, he felt as if there was something stuck in his chest, constraining his breaths. When people lacked the warmness of a family when they were little, after they grew up, part of those people would value their happiness more than others, while the rest of those people led a path of world destruction. Harry belonged to the former, while surely, Voldemort belonged to the latter.

But the scars that came from the pain and sufferings were the same. They would not disappear with the passage of time, they would not become lighter with future successes. The scars from their childhood would always be as red as new.

Harry couldn't control himself, he walked towards Voldemort and gave him a deep hug. This man also had a weak side. Because of Merope Riddle, Voldemort was also depressed during his birthday, torturing himself every year that day. He must also missed his mother, he must wished that his mother was beside him; even though the word hatred was in every sentence. The deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. Because Merope Riddle gave him his life, gave him his always proud bloodline, gave him his undefeatable magical talents. This man longed for love.

Almost not believing, Voldemort hesitantly lifted his arms, tried to lightly hug Harry, until his hands touched the clothes Harry was wearing, his ears hearing Harry's heartbeat, then he believed that he was not hallucinating and that Harry really was hugging him. Voldemort's hands were shaking with excitement, he applied pressure to his arms and tightly hugged Harry, until Harry's pointy chin touched his collarbone and there was no space between Harry's small body and his. He could feel Harry's body warmth through his clothes, he could feel Harry's heartbeat. A stream of warmth travelled from where Harry and him touched to his entire body, in the end, flowing into his ice-like heart, warmed it, softened it, and let it have some warmth to it for the first time.

His Harry!

Voldemort never imagined that with just one hug, he had the urge to cry. His mother left him, his father discarded him, the entire orphanage excluded him, Hogwarts' Slytherin House was filled with hypocrites and distrust, those self-righteous people hated him, his Death Eaters feared him; no one wanted to hug him, only Harry. From the beginning till now, only Harry.

Yes, nothing was important now, because he had Harry.

Coming out from his excitement, Voldemort took Harry onto his lap, shifted until Harry felt comfortable. He wanted to say everything, and then say good-bye to the past, he won't suffer anymore because of that woman and that man, because now, he had something he could cherish.

From Harry's point of view, when they were talking about Tom Riddle, Voldemort's voice was very calm, as if they were discussing some one else not important, even though he used many strong emotional words. This confused Harry.

"I used to hate that Muggle. With his disgusting Muggle blood, He should have been honoured to marry some one from the noble bloodline of Salazar Slytherin, but he ran away. He left his wife and his unborn child to poverty and himself went back home to his privileged life. That man was not even worthy of the most disgusting word possible."

This must be the reason why Voldemort hate Muggles so much, Harry thought.

After letting out all of his anger and pain, Voldemort felt a burden had lifted and he felt really light. As if shooting away a fly, he waved his hand. "So after I grew up, I discarded the name Tom Riddle, for a long time, I also wanted to discard this face that is so similar to his." He looked at Harry, if it wasn't for Harry, not wanting to scare him, he wouldn't have kept this face, which always reminded him of that Muggle.

"So you can never stand Muggles, is that right?" Harry asked, calm but desperate. He stopped imaging that Voldemort would spare those talented Muggles or Muggleborns.

Voldemort delicately petted Harry's head, the soft hair on against hand felt better than the best silk. After four days of cold war, Voldemort already had enough time to question his ideals. If he continued as he was, the day he won the world would be the day he lost Harry. On the issue of Muggles, they were on opposite ends of the spectrum, one person was needed to give up entirely. With Harry's gentle personality, letting him give up the Muggles would be like exiling himself; but to Voldemort, eliminating the Muggles was not that important. Voldemort believed that Muggles were weak little bugs, eliminating them could satisfy his need of purifying the world, but not eliminating them, he could also raise them as pets for entertainment.

"You like Muggles, Harry. If I kill all the Muggles, you would leave me."

Even though Harry felt the way Voldemort said that was kind of intimate, but that wasn't important; what was important was – "You're saying, you're going to keep the Muggles?" Harry couldn't believe his ears, was Voldemort making him a promise?

Voldemort lowered his head and placed a kiss on Harry's soft and smooth cheek, sniffing in Harry's sweet scent, "Even though those low life creatures are very disgusting, I decided to endure them." Seeing the happiness of the boy inside his arms, he decided to take another step back, "If there are Muggles that are really talented, I may even want to give them a good job."

Harry was almost jumping with joy.

"But don't be happy too early, my attitude towards blood is not changing. Purebloods are the nobilities; they should stand at the top of the social pyramid. Those half-bloods can only be second-class citizens; the Mudbloods are the third-class. As for Muggles, they are at the bottom of society." Voldemort's lips formed into a brutal smile, "There aren't many purebloods in the Magical World, too many marriages between them could create some useless descendents, such as my mother; those people should never exist. The Muggles could also be of use to us in this case."

Harry closed his eyes, shaking, and helpless fell back into Voldemort's chest. At least Muggles could still live. Voldemort and him, they both took too many steps back already and couldn't give up anymore on this issue.


	9. Chapters 36 to 40

**Chapters 36 – 40**

The next day was New Year's Day, which was filled with activities.

Early morning, Nagini was in the first floor parlour watching TV. Voldemort was not very happy about it, but because it was New Years, he didn't let his anger show. He cast some spells on the TV, allowing the pictures to come alive, allowing Harry and Nagini to see, hear, smell, taste, even feel what was shown on TV.

The results were satisfactory; at least, even Voldemort gave some comments about the show they were watching, "This is so stupid!" "How could he do this to her?!" Even the House-Elves found many excuses to come to the parlour and steal a couple of glances at the TV.

After, Nagini became even more demanding; she demanded a rollercoaster in the garden. Of course Voldemort wouldn't agree, but Nagini began to roll around on the floor like a little spoilt child. Think about it, a twelve meters long snake rolling around on the floor! What a creepy sight! Harry felt all his hair on his body stood up. Voldemort endured it for about ten minutes and gave up. By the end of the day, a rollercoaster was in the garden.

The rest of the holidays were spent in peace and quiet at Voldemort Manor. Harry would spend his days with Nagini, riding the rollercoaster and watching TV. After the talk on New Years Eve, Voldemort and Harry became even closer.

At the end of the holidays, Harry happily returned to Hogwarts to find Snape. Snape was in the Room of Requirements with all of his attention staring at a cauldron. The first thing Harry noticed was his greasy long hair.

"Merlin! Severus, when was the last time you took a shower?!" Harry shouted.

Snape was very unhappy with Harry's shouting; he gave Harry a dirty look and then slowly added three porcupine quills to the wine-red liquid, stirred, then added the powdered root of asphodel. "Shut up! Wait till I'm finished!"

When Snape was brewing potions, he won't care who it was that disturbed him. Harry had a feeling that even if it was Voldemort who disturbed him, Snape would scold at him like a little child until he would be too ashamed to lift his head.

Harry patiently waited until Snape finished his perfect potion. He observed while Snape poured the new batch of potion into a crystal bottle and put it beside the other eleven crystal bottles.

"When are you planning on sending them to Lupin?"

Snape gave a look that showed he had been thinking hard about something, but still didn't know the answer, "I don't know how to sign the note."

"Make one up." Harry rolled his eyes.

Snape hesitated for a while. "What do you think about '_The Half-Blood Prince_'? My mother's maiden name was Prince."

"It's perfect! Double meaning." Harry agreed.

After receiving Harry's agreement, Snape picked up a quill with his left hand and began to draft a letter. But for Snape, who was so used to being cold all the time didn't know how to describe his feelings to Remus. After the tenth time Harry rejected his letter, he could only let Harry write the letter for him.

When they returned to their dorm to take a shower, they stopped by the owlery and mailed the two packages to the Gryffindor Tower for Remus.

One bottle of 100 ml made five portions, which was enough for a month for Remus. Which meant, for the next year, Remus didn't need to worry about his transformation problems.

When Remus received the packages, he was in his dorm room, alone. Two owls flew in from the window and dropped the two packages in front of him. Remus, confused, opened the folded swan shaped note, which was glued to the top of the box.

Dear Remus Lupin,

You have a little hairy problem, correct? This potion can help you solve that problem. Starting from four days before the full moon, once a day, 20 ml each time, you will be relieved from the urge of biting, allowing you to sleep quietly in your room.

Yours truly,

The Half-Blood Prince

P.S. Remember to heat the potion before taking it.

Remus felt like he had just been struck by lightning, he was too surprised to think, his mind was blank. Who was the Half-Blood Prince? How did he know about his secret? Why did he send him potions? There was no hope for werewolves; at least at the present, there were no potions to control those animal urges after transformation. Otherwise the person that discovered that potion would for sure be awarded an Order of Merlin, First Class, to thank him/her for the contributions to the Magical World.

Remus was very doubtful about what was said on the note, at the same time, he couldn't help himself to reach for those two packages. The package was wrapped in layers of thick leather, to make sure what was contained inside the wooden boxes stayed perfect. There was nothing on the leather or the wooden boxes, so Remus couldn't find any clue as to who the sender of the package was. He opened the wooden boxes with shaking hands; in each box was six dark green crystal bottles, with an expensive stone on each silver stopper. The printing on the bottle told Remus that the liquid inside was exactly 100 ml.

"Remus, who mailed you potions?" James, who just finished Quidditch practice, came back with Sirius and Peter.

As if seeing his saviour, Remus picked up the parchment and handed it to them.

Sirius was so furious he was jumping up and down even before he finished the letter. "It's a trap! It must be a trap! There's no potion to relieve pain during a werewolf's transformation, everyone knows this!" Suddenly, he realized something, "It must be Harry Potter, he did this. He knows about our secret. He's playing with us with this potion."

James picked up a bottle and observed it. "From the bottles, it does seem like it came from Slytherin, what a waste of money. I don't doubt that the Harry Potter right now has enough money to play these tedious games. But, Sirius, I don't agree that this is a trap. According to the letter, one bottle is enough for one month, twelve bottles meant a year. If that person's goal is to play with us, or to force Remus out of Hogwarts, he didn't have to mail so many at once, two or three bottles would be enough. I don't think Slytherins have much patience to make this many potions just for some game. They rather put their time to things that would show more value, such as, sex."

"Maybe they changed this time, you know that that Harry Potter is not a traditional Slytherin." Sirius still didn't believe what James said.

James smiled lightly, but didn't answer Sirius, instead, he turned to Remus, "We can go to Headmaster Dumbledore; have him ask Professor Slughorn to test these potions, see if what was said on the letter was the truth. If it's not, then we could just throw those potions away and also find out who's playing with you. Once I find out who's playing with you, he's dead! But if it's true, then this is good news for you, Remus."

This suggestion was agreed by all. They found Professor McGonagall and told her what happened. Immediately, Professor McGonagall took them to Dumbledore's office.

After hearing what happened from Remus, Dumbledore picked up a bottle and looked at it, then he opened it and sniffed it. In the end, he said, "Aha, at least we know the name of this potion." He turned the stopper to show the name _Wolfsbane_ printed on the bottom.

"Seems like we need Professor Slughorn here, it is his specialty. Hopefully he could finger out the true use for these twelve bottles of potions as soon as possible. We don't have much time left before 'four days before the full-moon'."

On the morning of four days before the full-moon, after a double potions class, Professor Slughorn returned the twelve bottles of Wolfsbane potion to Remus. With a huge grin on his face, he said, "Seems like you have a good friend somewhere, Mr. Lupin, a genius good friend. This Wolfsbane potion could control all your animal instincts during the full more, allowing you to sleep peacefully after you transform. This is the best solution we have now to lower the threat of werewolves to its lowest point. I'm afraid it's going to be the only solution in a very long time, if this genius potions master would be willing to publish this recipe. Genius idea, genius combination! I really would like to meet this Half-Blood Prince in person, see for myself what kind of person could invent this great potion!" He clapped Remus on the shoulder, "You're really luck, Mr. Lupin, other people aren't so lucky."

By the end, Remus couldn't even hear a single word Slughorn was saying, he could only think about that he didn't have to worry about his transformation for the next year!

"Then, who is this Half-Blood Prince?" Peter was still curious, but the four couldn't think of anything as to who the Half-Blood Prince was.

Because of Slughorn's swank attitude, all of Hogwarts' professors found out what happened very quickly. At first, Voldemort didn't pay too much attention to this, but after hearing some of the potion's ingredient combinations, which he remembered vaguely from somewhere else, some ideas began to form in his head.

Snape was called into Voldemort's office.

"Professor Voldemort, you called for me?"

"Sit, Severus." Said Voldemort, "I want to ask you something. Did you make the Wolfsbane Potion?"

Snape trembled, but pretended to be calm. "No…no…"

Seeing the fear in his eyes, Voldemort smiled, "Children are growing up, they like to do things by themselves now. Don't worry, Severus, I won't punish you because of this. You always know what is the right thing to do."

Snape asked carefully, "You…you're not angry?"

Voldemort waved his hand gratifyingly, "What's there to be angry about. I know you didn't do anything to anger anyone, what should I be angry about then."

Seeing that Voldemort really wasn't angry, Snape relaxed and collapsed on the chair.

"But Severus, since I allowed you to help that werewolf, you need to do something for me." Voldemort continued.

Immediately, Snape sat up straight, "Professor, your wish is my command."

"I want the Wolfsbane Potion's recipe." Voldemort ordered.

Snape frowned, this wasn't anything easy. "Professor, it's not that I won't give it to you, but…I didn't invent this recipe, Harry gave it to me. I can't tell you without his permission."

Something flashed in Voldemort's eyes. Harry invented the Wolfsbane Potion; this was really shocking. Harry could think of such a genius idea, no wonder he was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin. Voldemort really wanted to know what other treasures were hidden in that pretty little head. But this way, things became a little bit more complicated.

"You don't need to worry about that, I'll tell Harry."

"Professor, I trust Harry would be willing to tell you himself." Snape valued promises the most; he wouldn't, without Harry permission, give the recipe to a third person.

Voldemort took out his wand and pointed it threateningly at Snape's forehead. "Severus, you don't want to force me to use Legilimens on you, do you? You're pathetic Occlumency wouldn't stand my invasion." He squinted his eyes. "So, I suggest you tell me the recipe and I'll explain everything to Harry."

Understanding that he couldn't keep any secrets against Voldemort, Snape gave up. He was Voldemort's loyal servant, and he believed that what was Harry's, of course, was Voldemort's. Voldemort was going to have Harry no matter what; all of Slytherins knew that, only Harry himself was clueless.

Satisfied, Voldemort wrote down the recipe and mailed it off with an owl. "Let's go, Severus, I'll explain it to Harry."

Harry looked at Voldemort with a calculating look, not believing what the man was saying at all. "You're saying that you're going to mass produce the Wolfsbane Potion and sell them to all werewolves?"

"Yes." Voldemort smiled, he ran his fingers through Harry's smooth hair and couldn't help himself, but placed a soft kissed. "The number of werewolves in this world could be many or little, depending on how you see it. But a big part of them doesn't want to kill and bit after transformation each month. Selling this potion could make a huge profit."

Harry didn't doubt this one bit, only if that was Voldemort's only intent with the potion.

"You could've just come to me, why did you need to get it from Severus? You even threatened him."

Voldemort answered with a straight face, "I believed you won't agree to let me use the Wolfsbane Potion to make money. But I also believed that your uncle had the responsibility to see that all your results produced value."

"I didn't know you were such a businessman." Harry mocked.

"It's not too late to find out now." Voldemort smiled fakely.

"How much are you planning on selling it for?" Harry gave up the thought of trying to mock Voldemort; he didn't know what to say to that person's thick face.

"100 ml for 50 Galleons, very fair."

Damned fair! 100 ml cost at most 10 Galleons to make, this bastard increased it by four times! And this was for only a month!

"Isn't the price a bit high?"

Voldemort shook his finger lightly, "Not at all high. The Wolfsbane Potion contained many hard to find ingredients, and the steps to making the potion are very complicated. If I lower the price anymore, it'll be better to just publish the recipe on the Daily Prophet."

"You're not worried that I'll publish it myself?" Harry bit his teeth.

Voldemort let out a bunch of numbers. "With each bottle of the Wolfsbane Potion sold, Severus would receive a 3% commission, which is 0.15 Galleons; 100 bottles sold, Severus would receive 15 Galleons; 10,000 bottles sold, that would be 1,500 Galleons. The more Wolfsbane Potions sold, the more commission Severus would receive. Harry, you wouldn't want to harm Severus's income, would you?"

Bastard! Using Severus against him! Harry stared angrily at Voldemort, as if wanting to drill twenty some holes in his body with.

"You're not going to purposely create more werewolves just to sell more Wolfsbane Potion, are you?" Harry, once again, gave in to Voldemort.

"Harry, you're insulting me as a person." Voldemort stared at him.

"I'm sorry." Harry apologized, but inside, he was thinking of something else, at least Voldemort didn't think he was insutling his intelligence.

"It's alright, I know you didn't mean it." Voldemort hugged Harry to show that he understood. Right now, the number of werewolves was more than enough.

After Voldemort left, Snape asked Harry, "Is Professor Voldemort thinking about using the Wolfsbane Potion to control those werewolves that won't follow him?"

Harry sneered, "What I want to know is that _when_ he is going to use those werewolves that he controlled with the Wolfsbane Potion." Then he grabbed a parchment and quill, "Severus, hurry and write a letter, tell Lupin that you're going to provide all of his Wolfsbane Potion for free forever, don't let him buy it from the outside. Voldemort can control any werewolf he want, but not Remus Lupin!"

*****

Remus received another letter from the Half-Blood Prince.

Dear Remus Lupin,

The recipe was forced from me, from now on, the Wolfsbane Potion would be sold at a very high price to the public. Don't buy it from the outside, no matter what, I'll provide it for free to you forever.

Love,

The Half-Blood Prince

Sirius let out a whistle, "Our little Remus has a very talented secret admirer."

"No I don't, Sirius!" Remus cried out. But his face was bright red; this Half-Blood Prince, whom he never met, but was always thinking of, already won his good graces.

*****

The days after passed by quietly and peacefully. On Valentine's Day, Harry received cards and presents that covered the entire Slytherin Table, which greatly exceeded Sirius, who had been the most popular person on that day for the past few years.

In the Quidditch match after, Gryffindor beat Slytherin once again, James caught the Golden Snitch, 300 to 150.

During the Easter Weekend, Harry returned to Voldemort Manor. He once again enjoyed the long-time no see television, rollercoaster, and Muggle London, although he was also heavily burdened with homework. During the entire weekend, Voldemort was very busy, leaving early in the morning and coming back late at night. Although this was the case, Voldemort still made enough time in his schedule to spend time with Harry and help him with homework and tutored him in Magic.

After the Easter Weekend, students returned to Hogwarts, the amount of homework they received caused them to constantly complain to each other. But that only lasted for a few hours and disappeared, a batch of pamphlets, leaflets and notices concerning various wizarding careers appeared in the common room, along with a notice informing them of an upcoming meeting with the Head of House.

Very different from the restless and nervousness that formed in the former Gryffindor common room, the current Slytherin common room was very quiet, which was the same as usual. Conversations regarding careers always went as follows:

"My father said that I need to work for the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. It is a very important department."

"My grandfather told me that controlling Gringotts is a must, so when I'm working at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, I need to try and infatuate those greedy little Goblins."

"Severus, what do you want to do?" Harry waved the Wizarding Bank Industry Pamphlet in his hand.

Snape rolled his eyes and sneered, "Don't know. Maybe I won't get a job, Merlin Knows how much money the Wolfsbane Potion is making me." For awhile, he was hugely opposed to accepting this money, but Harry forced him to accept it.

Harry threw away the pamphlet, bored. "A man needs a good job, it sounds good to the outside. How about being a potions master at Voldy's potions company." He suggested uncaringly.

Snape seriously considered for awhile, "No, I'm leaning more towards becoming the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor after Professor Voldemort leaves." He had a feeling, this day won't be too far away.

"That's good too." Harry agreed.

"The Muggle Liaison Office. You're career choice." Lucius put a bright pink and orange leaflet on the table. "I think you should change to a better choice, Professor Voldemort has the power to put you in a more powerful position."

Harry smiled, "Lucius, what are you going to do after graduation?"

Lucius smiled with confidence, "Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I should be an Assistant Head at the beginning. My goal is the Wizengamot."

"I believe in you." Harry gave a huge smiled which showing his teeth.

"So I decided to mark a clear line between myself and the Ministry of Magic." After Lucius let, Harry told Snape, "I'm going to walk the middle line."

Snape, who was reading the St. Mungo's Healer pamphlet, raised the pamphlet in confusion and understanding.

*****

"St. Mungo's Healer?" Voldemort was very surprised at Harry's decision. "This is a very demanding and tiring job, I rather you still choose the Muggle Liaison Office."

"I decided, Voldy." Harry said lightly

"Harry, please reconsider…"

"Professor Voldemort, I'm sitting here because you can give me some career advice, if you can't do this, then I think I need to resort to asking other Head of House who could help me." Harry interrupted impatiently.

"…" Voldemort didn't know what to say. After spending time with each other for half a year, he was already used to Harry's stubbornness; once decided, no one could make him change his mind, not even Voldemort.

"Fine, I'll tell you about St. Mungo's Healer. It requires five NEWTs, with at least an E in each of them. The five are Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. But don't think this is all." Voldemort returned to his professor attitude, saying things clearly and quickly. "It also has many other hidden requirements. Usually, Potions and Herbology requires an O, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts also requires an O, but they are put behind Potions and Herbology. Sometimes, one recruiter feels that one O is enough, while another recruiter requires two Os. Which meant, in the five NEWTs, at least one must be an O, however, usually two Os are required. Because healers not only heal a patient's body, but also a patient's mind, so in order to become a Healer at St. Mungo's, you need at least an A on all of the rest of your NEWTs, other than those five subjects, at least two other subjects must be an E. Of course, in order to achieve those NEWTs, you need to be able to test in those subjects, which meant getting into those NEWT classes. My Defence Against the Dark Arts class requires an E in OWLs; Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration and Charms also require an E. Professor Kettleburn's Care of Magical Creatures requires an O on the OWLs, Professor Binns' History of Magic only requires an A, Professor Chate requires an O for Astronomy, Professor Pier requires an E for Muggle Studies." Voldemort paused, then continued, "Which meant, in order for you, for sure, to become a St. Mungo's Healer, you need to obtain five Es and an A on your OWLs, and two Os and five Es on your NEWTs."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "I understand." He had a hard task ahead of him.

In the beginning of May, the Quidditch Season ended, Gryffindor, with three wins, won the Quidditch Cup for the forth time. Harry's face was as dark as Voldemort's. He had an urge to replace Lucius as the seeker; he couldn't stand the dirty and challenging look James Potter was giving Slytherins while kissing the Quidditch Cup.

Because of OWLs, the black market between students was flourishing, which was exactly as Harry experienced it before; even the Slytherins were involved. Because Slytherins all came from wealthy families, many people brought aids to concentration, mental agility and wakefulness. Many people also suggested them to Harry to buy, "Great results!" Harry just smiled. He didn't forget what happened when Hermione told everyone the truth – dried Doxy droppings. Good thing was that Voldemort and Snape already gave him enough potions, the results were also much better than those from the black market.

The first Sunday in June, the examiners for OWLs arrived at Hogwarts. Harry recognized Professor Marchbanks and Professor Tofty, who tested Harry in the future. Harry had very fond memories of those two professors.

That night, Harry couldn't help himself but visit Voldemort. In Voldemort's private quarters, on the double couch, Voldemort held Harry tightly in his arms and told him about his experience with OWLs. "Don't be nervous, you just have to do what you usually do, Harry. You're abilities already past the OWLs level, don't worry. I'm sure you'll get nine Os."

Monday morning, Harry felt nervous. He knew he already tested for OWLs once, didn't he? He shouldn't feel nervous anymore. But who made it a rule that he shouldn't be nervous for the second time? Who? Who? Damnit! Knowing and doing it were two different things!

Good thing was that the exams went successfully, Harry even did very well on the subject that he was most worried about, History of Magic; in the practical exam of Astronomy, Harry finished his star-chart in half the time. Harry decided that he would thank Voldemort after his exams finish for taking the time to tutor him for half a year. Of course, what made Harry the happiest was that Snape's worst memory didn't happen. After that incursion in Hogsmeade, the Marauders kept far away from Harry and Snape.

Harry's last exam was Defence Against the Dark Arts practical, this was the subject he had the most confidence to receive an O in. Coincidence, his examiner was still Professor Tofty. Counter-jinxes and defensive spells, Harry flew through them. Professor Tofty was also smiling and nodding at Harry's performance.

However, Lily was not so lucky. Her examiner was a well-dressed noble-like wizard; his hair was made perfectly, showing that its master was a serious wizard. This wasn't the worst, what was the worst was that this examiner didn't like Muggles. Lily came into the room later than Harry, when Professor Nabbandy saw her, he drew a long face and said loudly, "What's the point of testing a Muggle for OWLs!" This caused everyone in the room to turn and look at him and Lily. Lily paused in shock, but immediately returned to normal and let out a sweet smile. Professor Tofty sighed quietly, "What a sweet girl."

But Lily's nightmare just started. Professor Nabbandy wasn't satisfied with any of her performance; in the end, even Lily lost confidence in herself.

"Now, dear Miss Muggle, what are you going to do when faced with this?" Nabbandy lifted his wand. Behind Lily, a tall and skinny figure wrapped in a black cloak appeared, its face was hidden in the hood, a skeleton hand made its way towards Lily. The entire room felt like it was covered in ice.

Professor Tofty was shocked and angered at the same time, "Nabbandy, how could you do this!" He grabbed his wand to save Lily, but some one else beat him to it.

"_Expecto patronum_!" Harry shouted out of reflect, no need to think of any happy memory; a Patronus based on happiness was not a perfect Patronus.

Silver mist erupted from the tip of Harry's wand forming a gigantic poisonous snake, it lifted its humongous head to show its sharp poisonous teeth. It stood proudly and protectively in front of Lily, who already dropped to the floor out of fear.

The Dementor retreated and disappeared, the silver snake also slowly turned into silver mist and disappeared.

The room was completely silent. Harry was over shocked, his Patronus changed from a stag to a snake?! He remembered the time when Tonks's Patronus changed, that was when she fell in love with Remus. But Harry wasn't in love, he only wanted to quietly live his life and achieve the goal he had had ever since he came to this time period, so how could his Patronus change? He wasn't planning on asking Voldemort about this. The Patronus was his deepest secret, he didn't want to share it with Voldemort.

Although Harry was filled with unanswered questions, he didn't forget the poor Lily. He helped her to her feet, unsurprisingly, she body with ice cold and she was shaking. Harry summoned some chocolate and handed them to Lily. "Eat them and you'll feel better." Lily took the chocolate silently and tried to eat them. "Think of happy thoughts, Lily. Dementors are afraid of happiness. Don't be scared, even those things have weaknesses."

Lily lifted her head, there was a thin layer of wetness in her eyes.

Applause sounded, everyone was clapping. Professor Tofty, in his old voice, praised Harry, "A perfect Patronus, actions fit for a noble gentleman, Harry Potter. Very good!"

Professor Nabbandy had a huge smile on his face, his voice was gentle, like a grandfather, "No wonder a descendent of Salazar Slytherin, such magical powers!"

"Thank you, Professor Nabbandy." Harry showed respect to him. Seemed that this serious professor liked him very much, maybe he could do something with this likeness. "I'm very honoured. If the noble you could kindly consider giving this lady another chance, you will discover she also has very powerful magic."

Nabbandy felt very comfortable with Harry's praise and words, "Miss Evans, Mr. Harry Potter has spoken for you. Very well, I'll give you another chance."

"You're too kind." Harry added another praise.

As the exam finished, the entire school found out about this incident. Girls raced towards Lily, demanding her to tell them what happened. "Did Harry Potter really produce a Patronus? A real Patronus?" "Did he really help you up? And give you chocolate? And told you it was ok?" After hearing Lily say yes to all that, the girls sighed together, "Lily, how much I wished I was you!"

*****

"The hero saved the princess. Would it be that the princess falls in love with the hero that follows in this story? Who would have thought that dementors made the strongest Amortentia." Snape sneered.

"Shut up, Severus! You've been making fun of me for the entire afternoon!" Harry was really getting angry at this.

Snape was not the least bit afraid of Harry's killing stare, he continued slowly, "You had the nerve to do it, then you should've been prepared for people to talk about it. My version of the story is the simplest and least graphic. Do you want to hear the long and graphic version? The latest news coming from Hufflepuff, which I quite enjoyed; you were described as a sex addict, countless poor girls were sacrificed under your evilness. Who said all Hufflepuffs were stupid? I think they have quite an imagination."

"Oh, Severus, please!" Harry was moaning in the couch.

Finally, Snape became serious, "Then let's talk about something more serious. How are you going to explain it to Professor Voldemort?"

*****

At 10:05 that night, Harry was carrying a tray and standing outside of Voldemort's private quarters. The snake that was coiled on the door lazily looked at him, then looked down, uninterested. {Boring, another human speaker.}

{To tell you the truth, you're quite demanding. Parselmouths are very rare.} Said Harry.

The snake looked at him in surprise; although it wanted to talk more, it opened the door. {Fine, Parselmouths don't need to say the password.}

Seeing Harry walk in, Voldemort put down the book in his hands, _Twentieth Century Dark Wizard Encyclopaedia_, and smiled, "Do you need something? I thought all students were celebrating right now."

Harry put down the tray in front of Voldemort, and said uncertainly, "Your snack." His eyes were looking at everywhere but Voldemort.

The color was a bit off, but it should be edible, though Voldemort. "Did you make it?" For sure the House-Elves could make it much better.

Harry's face went all red, his voice was as low as a fly's, "Yes, I promise it is edible…I think…" His voice was so low that Voldemort could barely hear him.

In truth, even if Voldemort would die of food poisoning from eating this, he would still finish this food without a second thought, not to mention that Harry's food was far from being poison. Voldemort made Harry very happy by finishing all the food. But in reality, Harry made way too much food; Voldemort was a very powerful magical wizard, not a very powerful magical pig.

Harry felt very happy, even though he didn't know why he was feeling happy. "I was going to buy you a present, to thank you for tutoring me, but then I thought that making it myself meant more. "Harry said shyly, "I didn't know how to cook with magic, so I asked the House-Elves to teach me."

"Having the thought is more than enough." Voldemort was trying to cut down on words, he ate too much that he didn't really feel like speaking. "Don't go too close to the kitchen, its too dangerous there."

"I'm fine." After a few seconds of silence, Harry observed Voldemort's facial expression out of the corner of his eyes; he was feeling very uncertain, "You're not angry, are you?"

Voldemort didn't say anything; he looked at the boy in front of him with a mysterious stare.

"I didn't mean to have anything to do with her, anyone would have helped her under those situations. She's very talented, just because she came from a Muggle family doesn't mean that she should lose the chance to have a fair exam." Harry saw Voldemort's mysterious look, he felt his heart racing, "You're not really going to transfer me, are you?" Voldemort wouldn't let him leave the Magical World, but Harry wasn't sure if Voldemort wouldn't force him out of Hogwarts.

This was the main point of tonight's conversation. Professor Nabbandy already spoken to Voldemort about what had happened. He couldn't stop praising Harry's respectful attitude towards elders, his true gentlemen nature towards ladies, and his great magical powers, which greatly exceeded others of his age. Of course, Voldemort was very glad that a well respected elder was fond of Harry, but at the same time, he was worried about Harry's feelings towards Lily Evans.

At the beginning of the school year, the two of them enjoyed talking with each other; the looks they were giving each other at breakfast in November; and today's 'hero save the princess'. Although the two of them didn't have any contact with each other, Voldemort couldn't help but wonder if Harry had fallen in love with Lily Evans. If Harry didn't come to him today, he would have went to find Harry tomorrow. Yes, if Harry did fall in love with Lily, he would transfer Harry immediately, to Karkaroff's Durmstrang, and cut off all connections between Harry and Hogwarts. He must make sure that the person that wins Harry's heart was himself.

"Harry, it's very common to fall in love with a girl, for a fifteen year old boy." Voldemort very sneakily probed for the answer by pretending to support Harry.

Instantly, as if someone pinched his butt, Harry jumped up. "My feelings towards Lily aren't the disgusting things you're thinking about! I only wanted to be her friend!" How come even Voldemort thought he had fall in love with Lily? This was too disappointing.

"Friend?" Voldemort extended his voice and repeated Harry's answer, "There's no friendship between a man and a woman, only love."

"I could also say that the only thing that could happen between a man and a man is sleeping together, Professor Voldemort, who enjoys playing with students." Harry was too angry, he couldn't help it but fight back by bringing up the game that Voldemort already stopped playing since last Halloween.

How could Harry fall in love with his mother! That would be insulting Lily. What Voldemort said also insulted the pure friendship he had with Hermione.

Voldemort arched his eyebrow, but relaxed his breath. It was true, Harry's feelings towards Lily Evans was only friendship, not love. The insulted and anger at what was being said look on Harry's face could not be mistaken for embarrassment or anger at being found out his deepest secret.

"Fine, I apologize." Voldemort, feeling very happy, raised the white flag. "Considering your status, Harry, I hope you choose your love carefully; even if you won't choose a pureblood, at least choose a half-blood."

Harry relaxed and sighed, at least he won't have to transfer to another school.

"As for Lily Evans, she is a pretty girl, if you want to continue your friendship with her…" Voldemort paused, but was surprised at Harry's quick rejection, "No, I don't need to become any closer to her."

"Hum?" Voldemort let out a questioning sound. "I thought you really wanted to be her friend."

"I have my considerations." Harry looked down, he did want to become friends with Lily, really, really wanted to, but reality won't allow him. "Our current relationship is just fine."

Voldemort was very happy with Harry's fast decision and decided not to further this conversation. Thinking of something, his face darkened and took out two sets of Quidditch tickets and said, "These are two sets of Quidditch tickets, you take it, Severus asked me to buy them for him. These will allow him to all the games played in England this summer at the Quidditch World Cup. One set is for him and one is for Remus Lupin. You tell him, I spent quite a bit of time finding out James Potter and Sirius Black's seats for him."

Harry agreed, while trying to hold in his laughter. Suddenly, he had an idea, "Can I also give Lily a ticket? She won't be able to buy tickets. I won't let her know who send it to her."

Voldemort frowned a little, "I'll try; a ticket to the finals on August 15th, VIP, next to Severus. I'm assuming that you won't have any objections to Severus taking care of her, do you?"

Harry shook his head.

*****

The next morning, when an owl delivered the Quidditch World Cup ticket set to Remus, he almost cried. His family wasn't wealthy like James's, who could buy the whole ticket set, so he only brought tickets to a couple of matches that had England playing; for the other matches, he could only stay home and listen to the radio. The Half-Blood Prince gave him a huge surprise, not only was it the World Cup ticket set, but the seat was right next to James's.

"This Half-Blood Prince is really good to you, Remus, you should marry him." Sirius began to joke with Remus.

"Yes, yes, this is what you look which finding a husband." James joined in.

Lupin's face was flush red, he deathly stared at his two friends, but couldn't say a word.

Peter muttered disappointingly, "I won't be able to watch any matches……"

*****

Harry also received a packaged.

Dear Harry Potter,

I don't know how to expresses my gratitude in words. You saved me from the dementor, then spoke for me to Professor Nabbandy, allowing me the opportunity to pass the Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL. I can't thank you enough with just words. I handmade two little gifts for you, hope you like it.

Yours Truly,

Lily Evans

The packaged contained two items which clearly came from girl, one was a quill bag made from green feather-shaped plants and the other was an ink bottle holder made from unicorn fur.

*****

An owl flew from the Slytherin table to the Gryffindor table, which caused some disruptions. Surprising, Lily received a response from Harry. Wasn't he afraid that Professor Voldemort would be angry? She unsurely stole a glance at the High Table, Voldemort looked normal.

Dear Lily Evans,

I really like the quill bag, I also like the ink bottle holder, both of them are very pretty. You don't need to thank me for yesterday, anyone would have done the same thing.

Yours Truly,

Harry Potter

It was the commonest type of letter.

*****

James Potter left the table in anger. But his terrible mood was lifted a few days later. At the end of the school year, Gryffindor won the House Cup with 489 points, while Slytherin was last. "Slytherin is worst." He sneered.

Harry pretended not to hear. Next year, Slytherin won't lose again, because he would become the Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch Team.

*****

The summer after his fifth year was the best summer Harry had ever had; the Quidditch World Cup started on July 9th, Harry and Voldemort watched all the matches in their VIP Box.

July 31st was the day that England made it to the top sixteen, which was also Harry's sixteenth birthday, it was also the day that the OWL results were mailed to the students. When the owl came in the afternoon, Harry was too nervous that he was afraid of opening the envelope, which caused a great and long laughter from Voldemort and Nagini. But without question Harry received nine Os.

That night was Harry's birthday party. Voldemort didn't invite any outsiders; only Snape received an invitation. Snape arrived on time for the party, he, Voldemort and Nagini together gave Harry his happiest birthday ever. They sung the birthday song together, blew out the candles together, and together ate the three-layer strawberry cake.

After, they opened the presents; Voldemort gave him a silver silk robe with two rows of buttons made out of light golden pearls, the collar had tiny pearls forming a snake. Nagini's present was a golden snitch; she already received news that Harry would become Slytherin's new Seeker next year. Snape's present was a self-made cologne, lightly scented, very fit for a young man.

Then the two boys began to unwrapped the presents sent from the Death Eaters and had a race of who could unwrap the most presents the fastest.


	10. Chapters 41 to 43

**Chapters 41 – 43 **

August 15th was the day of the Quidditch World Cup Finals. Noon, Harry and Voldemort arrived at their tent, which was made of sky blue waterproof material, not too outrageously fancy. When Harry went inside, he discovered that it was a one-bedroom suite. Why was it not a two-bedroom suite? But Voldemort was too busy greeting and meeting different people that he didn't have time to answer Harry. Many people of high position in the Ministry came to see Voldemort, along with Death Eaters from all over the world; the last person to come was the Minister of Magic, Fudge. Watching the two hypocritical people talk as if they were the best of friends, Harry rolled his eyes and went to take a nap.

Harry woke up from hunger later that day and realized that he was sleeping on Voldemort's chest with Voldemort's arms around him. The man's chest was very comfortable with soft scents flowing from his body. Harry's eyes met Voldemort's loving and gentle look, which caused him to forget what he wanted to say. The good thing was that Harry's stomach reminded him, "Oh, I'm hungry."

Voldemort laughed softly and snapped his fingers; immediately, a House-Elf brought them lunch. "You were deep asleep; I didn't want to wake you." Having Harry in his arms was such a wonderful feeling, it was as if this little body was made to lie in his arms.

After Harry finished eating, Voldemort couldn't wait and asked, "Do you want to sleep some more? You were too excited last night to get any sleep; plus, we're probably going to be up very late tonight."

Harry thought so too, so he lied down again and found a comfortable spot on Voldemort's chest without giving it a second thought, and fell asleep.

That afternoon, Harry went to Lucius's tent; Snape was also sleeping there. Beside them, Lily and Alice were sleeping in the same tent; and beside them was James Potter's tent – what a coincidence.

The match that night was very exciting, Ludo Bagman performed very well; but the snitch was not caught, so the game was extended to tomorrow. When everyone returned to their tent to rest, Voldemort left, fully dressed.

Harry rolled his eyes, another Death Eaters' gathering.

The night was very quiet, as if all sounds were lost. Harry rolled around on the bed, he couldn't sleep; not because he slept too much that afternoon, or that he was too excited from watching the game; it was because of his years of fighting the war that caused his heart to beat a bit faster, as if something was about to happen.

In the end, Harry jumped out off the bed, quickly got dressed and made sure that he looked presentable – the year of living with Voldemort also caused Harry to take his appearance very seriously – and grabbed his wand. After thinking about it for a second, Harry also decided to pocket the two-way mirror that Snape gave him for his birthday a few years ago. As far as he knew, Snape always had the other mirror with him.

Complete darkness was what greeted him outside the tent, Harry couldn't even find the moon or stars.

"What…?" Alarmed, Harry lifted his head, a baseball sized eye appeared about eighteen feet above him, a hand about a foot in length was racing towards him.

With a flash of red light, Harry quickly jumped out of the way. However, the owner of the hand didn't care about the red light, the hand continued towards Harry.

_Stupefy_ won't work, Harry squinted his eyes, a giant's body really was tough. But Harry also had a lot of experience fighting giants, he lightly waved his wand and a tree was lifted from its roots; it rose to midair and began to continuously hitting the giant in the head until the giant became unconscious. The giant fell to the ground with a loud bang, and the ground trembled.

As if this incident mysteriously hit the start button, all the sudden, screams, cries, laughter, ripping sounds filled the air; red, blue, yellow…lights of all color were flashing all over the place.

Enemy attack!

Discovering that this was an enemy attacked, Harry, all the sudden, became very calm. Years of war told him that the more hectic things were, the calmer he needed to be; the closer the enemy, the calmer he needed to be; the less they knew about the enemy, the calmer he needed to be. Because at that time, everyone was following him, if his decision was wrong by just a tiny bit, the end result would be worse than just a couple of cold numbers of a piece of paper.

According to the fight a few seconds ago, this battle included the giants.

When Harry was sending off his curses, a type of mysterious power surrounded him and tried to reduce his magical powers, but didn't succeed. Harry was very sure that it was a type of Runes that reduced the magical powers of the person trapped inside. Seemed like the person that started this battle wanted to kill all the witches and wizards inside this camp. That type of Runes was very power; if a witch or wizard didn't have enough magical powers to overcome this type of Runes, then their powers would be blocked, turning them into a temporary squib.

This was cruel!

This was Harry's only thought.

Killing hundreds of thousands of people, what kind of cold-hearted person could do something like this?

Could it be Voldemort?

This thought flashed through Harry's mind, because it was too coincided. But…but, Harry was still inside the camp. Could it be that the loving and gentle Voldemort before was all an act? Thinking of this possibility, Harry's hands began to shake.

Hope that it's not Voldemort.

It can't be Voldemort.

Otherwise, he might…

No, no, no! Harry shook his head hard. It didn't matter what Voldemort did, he wasn't on the same side as Voldemort, he only wanted to achieve his goals; no matter what Voldemort did, it had nothing to do with him. For those people that had no feelings, using other people was the commonest of tactics.

There had always been an obstacle between Voldemort and him; the only love that that man knew was power and status.

Suddenly, Harry heard chaotic footsteps coming his way, a witch was quickly running towards Harry, holding a baby in her arms. When she saw Harry, she screamed, "Run! Inferi!"

Inferi!

Harry's felt as if his heart sunk into ice cold water.

He knew that in both wars, Voldemort used Inferi. And giants, of course.

It was Voldemort.

Harry raised his head, his eyes were full of anger. Five Inferi were following the witch, their sharp teeth were dripping of blood. They were only a couple of steps behind the witch.

As Harry moved his hand, a dark-blue fireball was shot off from his wand and expanded, by the time it reached the Inferi, it was big enough to cover all five Inferi. Within a few seconds, the five Inferi were turned into ashes.

The witch stopped running and slumped to the ground. Some color returned to her dead white face, tears poured out of her eyes, "Allen, they ate Allen!"

The baby cried even louder.

"Please, Madam, you need to stay strong, if only for your child." Harry took out a handkerchief and handed it towards the witch. "You should be running towards the outside, not this way." Seemed like the attack caused all of them to break down and not know what was the right thing to do."

The witch squeezed the handkerchief and shook her head, and said weakly, "No use, we can't get out! There was as if something was blocking our magic, we can't Apparate, we can't use our wands, when he forced our way outside, we discovered thousands of Inferi blocking our way! Allen…Allen was trying to cover for me and Lucy…they were eating people everywhere, giants, trolls, Inferi…Oh, Merlin!"

She held her daughter tightly, her tears covered her daughter's face.

Harry held on to his wand tightly. The outside was also blocked? Really killing hundreds of thousands of people? Such a plan, with no faults; even if the Aurors all came, they won't be able to save such as huge loss.

Voldemort…

What should he do? Should he immediately take this witch and her daughter and leave, and then save the people he should save, or should he stay and save more people.

The laughter surrounding his ears were mixed with the screams just before he died and the war that would happen no matter what in his helpless future caused Harry to be even more undecided. Harry even had the urge to just run away immediately and not do anything at all.

Why was he always faced with these tough decisions?

Why was he always the subject of fate?

Why was it always him?

Why?

Bang! Bang! With the loud noises coming closer and the ground beginning to tremble, three well-dressed young boy were stumbling towards Harry's direction, they were all covered in blood. One boy was shooting curses at the one giant, two trolls chasing after them while he was running; but it was as if the giant and trolls were not in a hurry to catch them. The curses that the boys were sending off were dark magic what were definitely not the type of curses known to light families.

Even though it was very dark, Harry could still see that the boy that was shooting off curses had platinum blond hair and greyish blue eyes, and a pointy chin.

Lucius Malfoy.

Harry realized that he had wrongly accused Voldemort. No matter how cold hearted Voldemort was, he wouldn't kill off the next head of the Malfoy family. The Malfoy family had always been Voldemort's most loyal follower and his right hand; there were many things that Voldemort needed them to do for him. He wouldn't chop off his right hand by killing off the Malfoy family's only heir. If that was the case, the Malfoy family, and just maybe the entire Pureblood community would turn against him.

This was really great! A little voice shouted inside Harry.

Immediately, Harry felt his body began to warm up, his hopelessness also disappeared. His blank mind all the sudden became clear, he knew what he needed to do. First, save Lucius and them, then find Snape and Lily, also James and them, finally, create a safe place for everyone to stay.

He needed to do all these things quickly, because with time, the number of death would add up to a horrifying number.

"You seem very tasty, little ones, very fatty." The red hair giant licked his lips. The ones that he was referring to were the ones that always followed Lucius around, Crabbe and Goyle. They were about half a head taller than Lucius, but almost two times wider than Lucius. This, in the eyes of the giant, made a very tasty meal.

The trolls followed the giants, the foul stench began to spread.

"Get over here, hurry up, I'll take care of them!" Harry shouted at the three, he needed the giants and trolls to be far away from the three.

The three boys all paused a little when they heard Harry's voice, but Lucius was the first to come around; he deeply believed that the one trained by Voldemort won't be so bad and that Harry's calm and self-confident voice made him relax even more.

He quickly ordered the other two, "Crabbe, Goyle, run faster!" A few sprints later, they created some distance between them and the enemy.

The giant was also very happy, "More food, three of them." He looked at the baby with greed, "Babies are the best, very fatty and juicy."

The witch's face turned white again, she wanted to run, but Harry blocked her, "Madam, everything will be all right."

Harry's calmness and the slight smile on his face gave the witch some confidence; she thought of how easily this little cute boy destroyed those Inferi, who almost killed her, seemed like those Runes wouldn't really affect him.

If Harry didn't kill that giant before because he didn't know what was going on, this time, he wasn't planning on holding back. A flash of green, the two trolls dropped to the ground, and another Avada Kedavra later, the giant also died instantly.

The witch clapped her mouth shut out of disbelief; Merlin, an underage wizard killed a giant and two trolls, many grown wizards couldn't even do it, but this child did it easily! This child…this child…who was this child?

Harry was busy checking out the wounds on Lucius, Crabbe, and Goyle. They were all viciously attacked, but the good thing was that none of the wounds were life-threatening, just a bit too much blood-loss. "Because the giants wanted to eat us, the trolls didn't dare attack us too hard." Lucius explained with bitterness.

"This is a good thing, at least you're still alive. Many people are already eaten." Harry said with a deep face, "You need potions." He already stopped the bleeding for them, but they needed potions to regain the blood and strength that they lost. "We really need Severus. How did you separate?"

Severus left us suddenly, I couldn't stop him." Lucius's voice became even bitterer.

That stubborn idiot!

Harry took out his two-way mirror and shouted, "Severus, are you still alive?" He couldn't die!

The other side of the mirror was filled with different noises and Lily appeared in the mirror, "Snape's wounded really badly, he probably won't make it…" She started to cry.

Harry felt his head spin, Snape won't make it? "Where are you? Hurry up and tell me!"

"I don't know…don't know…" She cried even harder.

The image in the mirror shook and a brown haired boy appeared, it was Remus. "We're trapped about 500 meters east of James's tent, get here quickly." His eyes were a bit red.

What were they doing? How did all of them end up together?

Harry was so shocked that he almost couldn't hold on to the mirror; this was too weird, Snape, Lily, and the Marauders.

But this also saved him time.

"Come here," Harry shouted to Lucius, Crabbed and Goyle, and turned to the witch, "Madam, please come here too." When the four people were beside him, he said, "I'm going to try and Apparate, we need to get to Severus quickly," He said to Lucius. "Following me is the safest option," He said to the witch. "After I make sure that Severus is alright, I'll take all of you to a safe place."

The four people all nodded their heads. Harry's ability to kill the giant and the trolls gave them hope, maybe Harry really could overcome the Runes, maybe Harry really could provide a safe place for them; that would be the best news.

The four people tightly held on to Harry, "Take care of the child." Harry reminded the witch. The next second, he Apparated.


	11. Chapters 44 to 46

**Chapters 44 ****–**** 46 **

Harry's appearance shocked everyone, except for the unconscious Snape.

"Potter, you know how to Apparate!" Alice yelled out of shock.

"That's nothing." Harry said lightly. He should have known that Alice would also be here; she was Lily's best friend, and also currently sleeping in the same tent as Lily.

Harry looked around, there were seven people all together, their faces were covered in sweat, with blood stains on their clothes. But the good thing was that they were all alive, which was something not achieved by many grown wizards.

"Severus!" Lucius dropped his always gracefulness and raced towards Snape's side. Because Snape seemed really terrible, his face was deathly white, from his chest to his stomach was a long wound, even the bloody red flesh could be seen. Good thing was that it has stopped bleeding, probably from using some type potion. But what was weird was that Remus Lupin was taking care of Severus at his side, and James wasn't complaining about it.

"Merlin! This child's situation is terrible!" The witch that came with Harry went straight to check on Severus after they Apparated. She cried out, "Who can save him?!"

Making sure that there was no enemy around them, Harry walked up to check on Snape's wound. "Was it the giants or the trolls that did this?" He asked.

A terrified look crawled upon Remus's face, as if they were once again facing the giants. "He saved me from a giant, but the giant caught him and the giant's finger cut him."

"…" Harry couldn't say anything. He read the same thought through Lucius's eyes: unbelievable. Snape also played the "Prince saved the Princess" act, although not on purpose, but for some one like Snape, this was a very courageous confession of "I love you". Of course, Remus wouldn't know Snape's true feelings, at most, he would be confused.

Harry's wand traced over the deep wound caused by the giant, as he quietly sung an incantation. Before, when he wounded Draco Malfoy with _Sectumsempra_, Snape used this same spell to save Draco Malfoy's life. This was a typical dark spell, so it worked very well against wounds that were caused by Dark Magic.

With the wand's movement, the gigantic wound began to heal. As Harry sung the incantation for the third time, the original terrifying wound shrunk to a very thin white line. Harry felt that Snape was very lucky, because he didn't come face to face with an Inferi. From what he knew, Snape never made any antidotes for Inferi poison.

That reminded him, he needed the potions that Snape made.

Harry began to search through the pockets on Snape's robe and found a tiny golden box in one of the pockets. This was the present that he gave Snape for his birthday this year, a shrinkable potion kit.

Pressing the button on the box, the box began to unfold by itself until it became a five meters by three meters, 16 layers box, able to hold ten thousand potion bottles. Right now, Snape only used a little more than 100 of the boxes. Harry quickly glanced over the bottles and took out the Blood-Replenishing Potions when he saw them. Hopefully Snape made plenty of them, there were eleven wounded people here that depended on them.

Just as Harry was searching for the potions, the ground began to shake violently, and loud footsteps were quickly coming towards their way, a giant about twenty meters tall walked into their view. "I smell tasty humans." He licked his lips that were still full of fresh blood.

The six people that never saw Harry's true powers quickly got ready to run. Remus made the move to put Snape on his back, but Lucius stopped him, "What are you doing Lupin? Severus needs to lie down!"

"The giants are coming, we need to run for our lives!" Remus screamed.

"No need, Harry will take care of everything!" Lucius then ordered Crabbe and Goyle to carry Remus to the side.

"Idiot! We're all going to die!" James cursed and then pulled out his wand. Even though he knew that his wand was useless now, but he needed to try, maybe it would work this time."

"_Stupefy_!"

Six weak red lights hit the giant, but nothing happened at all to the giant. Giants always had tough bodies, now adding on the Runes that surrounded them, the six curses seemed like mosquito bites.

With no other way, the six had to raise their wands again, "_Stupe_–"

Before they were able to finish the spell, a green light hit the giant right in the forehead. The giant suddenly became still, slowly fell to the ground, and never got back up again.

The six wizards and witches turned to look at Harry, completely shocked. Harry, as if nothing had happened, grabbed some potion bottles and handed them to the witch, "Madam, you need three." Then he turned to Lucius, "You need two, Crabbe and Goyle needs one each, Severus needs six."

Harry then turned to the six, "Each of you needs at least two." He handed out twelve bottles, "Drink these first and I'll see how many more you'll need."

Alice was the first to cry out, "You used the Killing Curse! You killed him! How…how could…you'll be sent to Azkaban!"

"I don't think he'll be sent to Azkaban, think about who his uncle is." James said coldly.

"You'll become who you follow. You can now use the Killing Curse so coldly just by living with Voldemort for less than a year." Sirius's face was full of hatred. It seemed that Harry's use of the Killing Curse reminded him of what happened in the home that he abandoned.

"I don't think what Harry did was wrong. Between the giant's death and our death, I pick the giant's." Lily argued and took the potion bottles from Harry's hand.

Sirius screamed back, "He could have used other curses, he didn't have to kill the giant!"

"I believe that the first rule when facing an enemy is to make sure that the enemy won't be able to fight back, killing the enemy is the most effective option." Lucius said lordly.

"Exactly, there is only one sane person within all of Gryffindor." Snape said weakly as he sneered at James.

Harry walked over to Snape and said very unhappily, "Stop talking, Severus, you need to rest."

Snape shook his head tiredly, "We can't stay here, Harry, you're the only one that can use your wand, it's too dangerous." He looked at the baby that was in the witch's arms, who fell asleep already from being too tired, "Especially, when there is a baby present."

"Yes, I understand." Harry responded.

Then he picked up a tree branch, "_Portus_!"

Harry asked Remus to help clean up Snape's potion box and said to the others, "Get over here, I need to take all of you to a safe place!"

"Safe place? This entire night was planned by Voldemort, where is this safe place? The Death Eaters' Headquarters?" James twitched his lips. He didn't trust Harry Potter. This entire event felt weird from beginning to end, and Harry Potter's look, dressed like he was going to a ball and with no signs of being attacked, made James doubt him even more.

Harry suddenly turned around, the anger in his eyes forced James to take a step back. "Voldy didn't do this! He wouldn't leave Lucius and Severus in the middle of danger!"

"It's even more impossible for Professor Voldemort to leave Harry in the middle of danger!" Snape and Lucius said together.

Lucius half closed his eyes, "It must be the Order of the Phoenix."

"Impossible!" Alice shouted with anger, "They have a gathering tonight!"

Gathering?

Harry went into deep thought. What a coincidence, the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters all had gatherings tonight, and then the attack happened. Who was behind all of this and who would have wanted to kill these hundreds of thousands of people?

But right now wasn't a good time to discuss this. "Hurry up, all of you, if you don't want to die."

When everyone had their hand touching the tree branch, Harry also began to Disapparate.

Harry's destination was that Quidditch field, it had enough space to hold hundreds of thousands of people, as long as they could get there.

Harry arrived before the others, he needed to place all kinds of difficult protection spells on the field. Under lights of different colors, in the tens of seconds before the others arrived, Harry's made his protection work to the extreme.

"Now…" Harry waved his wand and hundreds of thousand of sleeping bags and thousands of toys filled the field.

When the others arrived, they were all shocked at the sight.

"You want to get everyone to here?" Snape frowned, "You're too kind."

"I just can't watch them die." Harry bit his lower lip.

"But how many of them would believe you, Harry? That's the problem." Lucius raised his eyebrow.

Of course Harry knew what they meant, but his heart didn't allow him to abandon those people.

After looking around again to make sure that he didn't miss anything, Harry pointed his wand to the sky, "_MORSMORDRE_!"

A colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars emerged in the sky, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. It rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation.

Harry's voice covered the entire area surrounding the Quidditch field, "Attention all witches and wizards, I am Voldemort's nephew, Harry Potter. Under the Dark Mark is the World Cup's Quidditch field, please get over here as quickly as possible. Spells and curses have been cast to ensure that nonhumans would not be able to entire. This place is very safe, please try your best to get over here." He then added, "I hope that everyone could forget about their differences, think about your family and your children, get over to the Quidditch field."

Even at this point in time, the Dark Mark still symbolized fear. Harry never doubted the truth behind the rumours that he heard about Voldemort's acts ever since he came back for the summer.

The witch carefully padded the sleeping baby in her arms, and suddenly a realization came across her face, "I remember, I saw your picture on the _Daily Prophet_, you're Vol…Mr. Voldemort's nephew, a student at Hogwarts."

"Yes, I haven't had the chance to introduce myself, my name is Harry Potter, Hogwarts' sixth year student. I promise that Voldy didn't do this." Once again, Harry tried to clear Voldemort's name.

The witch smiled and nodded, "I believe you, because Mr. Voldemort wouldn't put his own nephew in the middle of danger." She paused and said, "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mary Sue."

"Ms. Sue, could you help me take care of my friends for me? There would be more people coming, I'm going to see if I could save some other people." Harry asked.

"Are you crazy, Harry?!" Lucius screamed, his always proud nature completely disappeared. "You're going to save other people under such dangerous situations? What if something happens? Professor Voldemort…you're his only family left!" He almost shouted out Voldemort's true feelings; sweat dropped from his forehead out of fear.

Lily also blocked Harry's way, she couldn't let Harry leave, he could lose his life. "No, Potter, you can't go. That's the Aurors' job, it's not for us, underaged wizards and witches."

Sue also believed that Harry made a wrong decision. "You're still a child, no matter how powerful you are, you are still a child. I won't let you go, you must stay."

"I must use all the time we have to save as many people as I could. Who knows when the Aurors will come; I can't watch them die like that." Harry made his decision. "I must go and save as many as I could. If the situation becomes dangerous for me, I have an item that will save me." He lifted his hand to touch the locket in front of his chest. It would take Harry to Voldemort's side when Harry needed it.

Seeing that they couldn't change Harry's mind, the three had to give up. What could they do? Harry was too powerful, even if their magic hadn't been blocked, they were still no match for Harry, not to mention now.

Just as Harry was about to Apparate, some people raced into the field, while the giants and the trolls that were chasing them were blocked by an invisible force at the entrance and sprung back.

The newcomers totally relaxed now. They were two sets of parents with three children and a young couple. They turned around and observed the field and the people inside.

Harry put on his kindest and warmest smile, "Welcome everyone, I'm Harry Potter."

"It's you, we saw your picture in the _Daily Prophet_." A father said hesitantly.

This family was hiding at a place very close to the Quidditch field, after hearing Harry's announcement, his wife forced him to come. "What if it's really safe? Think about our children. Harry Potter is still a child, he shouldn't be too bad."

Therefore, he, who hated Voldemort, came here with his wife and children, thinking that if it was a trap, he would try his hardest to kill Harry Potter before he died. The result was that when he arrived at the stadium, he saw two large boys and a thin, blonde boy were taking care of a boy with pale white face, three other boys and two girls were sitting or standing in a circle, a young mother with swollen red eyes was carrying a baby that was deep asleep. All of their hair was messy, their clothes were ripped and covered in blood, all of them seemed like they just escaped from danger.

Only Harry Potter seemed like he wasn't attacked at all. His black hair was very neatly done with hairclips; his beautiful dark green robe was neatly ironed, not even one crease was visible; not even the least bit of dirt could be found on his shiny boots; with the light night wind, a tiny cherry bay scent passed through the air.

When everyone looked like a drowned mouse, this boy seemed like he was just carefully served by House-Elves, clean as a whistle. Credit to Voldemort, when danger came, the first thing he did was to create a safe place his nephew to stay.

What was lucky was that no matter who Harry Potter's uncle was, an underage wizard shouldn't be put into danger. What was even luckier was that this boy was kind enough to share his safe place with others. He was a beautiful boy, his sweet smile had the ability to calm people's fear in a very short amount of time.

Harry was very satisfied that his work didn't go to waste, he nodded at Sue, "Thank you, Ms. Sue," And Apparated.


	12. Chapters 47 to 49

**Chapters 47 – 49**

This caused the wizards, who were already a bit doubtful of the situation, to believe that this was a trap. They quickly pulled out their wands and pointed them at Mary, even though the wands were useless now. "This is a trap!"

"Wait, wait!" Mary rolled up her sleeve to show a clean arm, "I'm not a Death Eater and this isn't a trap! Harry saved me and all of these children, he went to save others."

"How could that be true, he's still underaged!" A mother shook her head. Just how powerful could an underaged wizard be?!

Sue nodded her head in confidence, "Yes, he's still underaged, but he's much more powerful that most of us, plus, he has a kind heart."

Outside of the field, it was still complete darkness and filled with screaming sounds, but the good thing was that there were many more people heading towards the field. Some people even used their broom to carry five re six people. But the Aurors were still no where to be found.

After the nth time of using the Portkey, Harry tiredly leaned against a tree and slowly wiped the sweat from his forehead. The sky was just getting brighter, he was very tired from running around the entire night. After he left the field, he continued to Apparate, use the Killing Curse, Sectumsempra, and Portkeys none stop. Some times when he was lucky, he saved those trapped witches and wizards; sometimes he was too late, all he could do was pick up the wands of those poor people – this was the only way to identify them later. The most tragic of all was children, the giants and trolled enjoyed them the most as food. Any children that fell into the hands of giants would be split into pieces first, then eaten. Even though Harry, through his years of war, had seen so many deaths, he would still feel tears fall from his eyes when he was picking up those dropped toys and ripped tiny clothes. The only thing he could do right now was Apparating to different places and try to save as many people as he could.

Suddenly, the two-way mirror started to ring, Harry took it out, it was Snape. He had color return to his face and his lips were also beginning to turn red.

"Is something wrong, Severus?"

Snape gave him a weird smile, "I'm fine, but something is wrong with you." Before Harry could ask his question, Snape told him the answer, "Professor Voldemort is here and he didn't see you, he's about to go crazy."

Beside Snape, Lucius began to laugh quietly.

But to Harry, it was as if it was the end of the world. Voldemort's here! It was a good thing, if Harry stayed in the Quidditch field. But now, he must be furious, he couldn't even image what would happen to him when he saw Voldemort.

"Professor Voldemort said, if you don't get to his side this instant, then you won't be leaving his side ever again." Snape slowly enjoyed the dejected look on his best friend's face.

"I know." Harry gave up his thought of disappearing, unless he wanted to become Siamese Twins with Voldemort. Even though this threat seemed like a joke, but it was very possible that Voldemort had the power to turn this into the truth.

He tightly grabbed the Slytherin Locket, the next second, his eyes were met with Voldemort's furious, red eyes.

"Ah…ha, ha…um…" Harry laughed dryly as he quietly tried to step back, trying to stay as far away from this furious man as possible. "Good evening, no, no, no, I meant good morning, Voldy, how…"

Harry shut his mouth at the red eyes that caught up to him, he was a bit too scared to say another word. Harry was thinking in his mind of whether or not he should give the man in front of him a petrifying curse or stun him and then run away.

Suddenly, the man put his arms around him, Harry could only stare as the man's face got closer and closer to him, close enough for him to make out every single one of his eyelashes. Until, slightly wet, but freezing could lips met his.

It was summer, but why were Voldemort's lips so cold.

This sentence popped into Harry's mind. But his rationality gave him a slap on the face: Harry Potter! You are being kissed by your uncle and you still have the mind to think about why this goddamn man's lips are so cold?! It's either this man's body temperature had always been this cold, or that he had been worried sick about your safety, no third option.

The hand on his waist pressed him even harder against Voldemort's body; Harry was a bit uncomfortable that he wanted to say something, but Voldemort's offensive tongue took the opportunity to charge in. Harry bulged his beautiful emerald eyes, unbelieving what was happening. This bastard!

It wasn't as if Harry never kissed anyone before, he kissed many times before, with Cho Chang, and Ginny, he even impregnated Ginny, he wasn't a virgin boy that didn't know anything. But he never kissed a man before, he didn't know what it felt like to kiss a man.

Voldemort's kiss was violent and destructive, he frivolously took in every sweet taste within Harry's mouth, he violently swept across every corner of Harry's mouth, and left his mark on every cell within Harry's mouth. Harry didn't like being treated this way, he struggled, he fought back, but nothing worked. The man's tongue was taking over his mouth, the insistence made Harry's already numb tongue began to hurt, the insistence made Harry's delicate lips red and swollen. Harry gave up. Just let him do whatever he want, Harry thought dizzily.

The good thing was that even though the man's kiss was violent, he had awesome skills. Even though Harry didn't like it at first, under that talented tongue, his breathing began to speed up, his body temperature began to rise, and he began to slowly lose his consciousness, tiny electric currents began to race up his spine, all of these completely destroyed Harry's unwillingness. Harry put all of his strength on the man's body and gave all in to Voldemort.

When Voldemort discovered that the little one within his arms might suffocate because of the kiss, Voldemort ended this kiss with all the joys of the world. Even tough at first he was very restless because of worrying about Harry's safety, but when he saw that Harry was safe and well, he just couldn't control his feelings anymore and kissed Harry, in the end, it was because of Harry's sweet taste that he couldn't stop. God knows how much power he had to use in order to prevent him from taking Harry right there right now. However, when he saw Harry's intoxicated eyes, flushed cheeks, lips that were a bit swollen, and from his point of view, he could very clearly see through the neck of the shirt, Harry's beautiful shoulders, milky white chest, and those two red…

Voldemort couldn't control his body anymore!

Harry, who was breathing hard because of the kiss, leaned against Voldemort's to try and get his breathing and heart beat back in control; but he felt something that was hot and hard poking his lower stomach, and the thing was becoming bigger and bigger.

What…it can't be…is it…

Harry swallowed hard and looked down shaking; with one look, his face turned bright red, and jumped, "Voldemort, I'm you nephew!" Not those students, who were begging and fighting to craw onto his bed.

Voldemort smiled shamelessly, "Oh, of course I know that you are my nephew in name, but you and I both know that we are only very distantly related. This nephew-uncle relationship was just an excuse for me to take care of you." He said complacently, "Harry, you never thought of me as your uncle." It's time to bring some things into the open.

Damnit! This man did have some other plans! I just knew that he wouldn't be so kind to just adopt me! Harry thought angrily, fine, let's bring everything into the open then, "Then, why—"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently and mixed voices of spells were heard, and they were becoming closer and closer.

Harry took out his wand angrily, "Are the Aurors still not here yet?!"

"Oh, I think they're here already, after all, Dumbledore and I are both back." Voldemort smiled lazily.

Then how could they let the giants keep on running around like this?! Are those Aurors that useless?

Harry thought for a second and then said to Voldemort, "This isn't a good time to talk, after today, we need to find a time to have a good talk."

"Very gladly." Voldemort raised his eyebrow. Seemed like it was the right time to open a new chapter in their relationship; his patience and perseverance all these times had paid off.

"Oh, wait, Harry." Just before Harry was about to leave to take care of the giants, Voldemort stopped him.

When Harry turned around, confused, Voldemort waved his wand, after a few simple charms, Harry's appearance returned to what it was twenty minutes ago: beautiful hairstyle, clean and neat clothing; All of the marks that could give people the tip of what just happened disappeared; Harry was so perfect that he could attend a coronation right now. His Harry had already won enough glory for both of them, he won't allow anything to destroy that glory. With last night's performance, Harry should receive an Order of Merlin, First Class; he had the credentials to have the hundreds of thousands of people that he saved last night to build him a statue. Therefore, right now, Harry couldn't give off any clues that could lead him to a scandal.

Harry tilted his head to one side, confused, his cute look caused Voldemort's heart to melt, "Go and destroy those creatures!"

*****

Six wizards and one witch surrounded one giant and two trolls, the trolls were already dead, but the giant was still good as ever.

"_Stupefy_!" Seven red lights shot towards the giant, but the giant just scratched his arm, nothing happened. He looked at the seven little bugs that surrounded him, reached out his large hand to grab the only witch and put her towards his mouth.

"_Stupefy_!" "_Relashio_!" The wizards threw spells at the giant again, but that only caused the giant to pause for a few seconds and then continue his great task of eating; the witch was getting closer and closer to the giant's bloody red mouth.

"_Sectumsempra_!" Harry couldn't stand it anymore, what were these Aurors doing?! If they continued like this, who knows how many more people will die?

It was as if the giant's arm was cut by a long and sharp knife, six long and deep wounds appeared and began to bleed hard. The giant dropped the witch in pain; the witch fell down and was caught by her team mates.

An Auror with dirty blonde hair waved both of his hands in the air, he was very displeased, "Hey, you can't harm him, Magical Creatures Law clearly states that the giants are protected under the law, they are very rare!"

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing, worrying about the rare animal status on the battlefield? Was he an Auror or an idiot? "So you rather watch your team mate being eaten than using some more powerful spells? Idiots!" Harry started at the seven Aurors coldly. "You're all killers, murders. In order to capture the giant and not harm him, you don't know how much time you wasted, and in this time, do you know how many more lives the other giants, trolls, and Inferi had taken? I don't know how you could face the family of those that died, tell them that the giants are rare, they are protected under law, so you didn't dare to kill the giant, but instead opted to watch the giants eat those people that shouldn't even die in the first place." He lifted his wand; a green light hit the giant right in the chest, making him lie on the ground forever.

Harry was furious, no wonder after the Runes had been removed for so long, those creatures were still running around freely, eating people, he originally thought that it was because the giant's body were so tough that they were able to escape, but now it seemed like the Aurors were not doing their job.

"You're not worthy of being Aurors, Aurors should be protecting wizards and witches, but you are pushing them into hell with your own hands."

The seven Aurors lowered their heads, they didn't want it to be this way, they wanted to take care of these creatures quickly and then save even more people, but…

Voldemort stopped the still furious Harry before he could say anything else, "Harry, please believe in the Aurors' abilities, I'm sure they have a reason for doing it this way." He looked at one of the older man who had a golden star on his chest, this was the team captain, "Captain, did you receive some kind of order before you came?"

The older man shook his head, "Mr. Voldemort, you should that his is confidential." Even though Voldemort was one of the true rulers of the Ministry of Magic, he would know right away anything that happened at the Ministry; this time, if it wasn't for his negotiations meeting with Dumbledore, he would know for sure what kind of order the Ministry gave; but none of these could be said from his mouth.

Voldemort raised his eyebrow, "Confidential? Allunte, you tell me." He picked one of his followers.

An Auror with dark brown hair bowed deeply, "Most Powerful Master, before we came, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge gave the order, he said that giants and trolls are very rare, they need to be protected, so we are not allowed to harm them, we need to capture them alive." He lifted his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitched a little, "This caused us great difficulties, many times, we were too late in saving those witches and wizards that were captured."

"That's outrageous!" Harry fisted his hand, he couldn't describe the furiousness he felt.

Voldemort slowly padded his hand on Harry's shoulder to calm him, "I understand, you are to inform the other Aurors that Fudge's order is nullified. All of the Aurors' first priority is to save all the witches and wizards as quickly as possible. All of the creatures that are involved in today's attack, kill them immediately, all of them!" He gave a cold smile, "Seems like we need a new Minister of Magic." Damn Cornelius Fudge, he caused him close to forty followers, he needed to pay!

"As you wish, Master." Then Allunte Dissapparated away with his team mates.

Voldemort held onto Harry's shoulder, "Harry, stop being angry, not everything can be perfect. Don't worry, Dumbledore and I will take care of this and give the entire Magical World an explanation."

"You and Dumbledore?" Harry opened his eyes wide in shock, these two archenemies were working together?

"This time, some one took the opportunity of my negotiations meeting with Dumbledore to attack, both the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix had great losses, many people lost their lives or their children's lives; many of my important followers' children were wounded badly. Of course, thousands of innocent witches and wizards also lost their lives. The person behind today's events is a big threat to me and Dumbledore, he must be destroyed. We already reached consensus back at the Quidditch field."

Ah, yes, no two could be friends forever, no two could be enemies forever.


	13. Chapters 50 to 52

**Chapters 50 – 52**

When Harry and Voldemort returned to the Quidditch field, Sue was wondering around the entrance to the field with Lucy in her arms playing with toys.

"Madam Sue, are you waiting for someone?" Harry asked casually.

Sue shook her head, "No, I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for saving me and Lucy, we owe you our lives."

Harry frowned, he didn't save people just for them to thank him. "Um…no problem, anyone would've done what I did." He quickly changed the subject, "Oh, so what are you plans for the future?"

"The future?" Sue lost some brightness to her eyes, but she quickly put on a happy smile, "Of course it would be to find a good job and raise Lucy to become a good witch; this way, Allen can rest in peace."

Even after they were far away, Harry kept on turning back to look at Sue, who was padding Lucy to sleep. The Ministry of Magic had separated the field into many different sections, within the infant section, there were many young mothers who also lost their husbands just like her, but all of them had the same strong and determined look.

Harry looked down and couldn't help but grabbed Voldemort's sleeve and asked, "Voldy, can you start a foundation? Please? To help those young mothers and babies that lost their husbands and fathers during this attack? And all of those orphans that lost both of their parents? They…they…" Harry choked, tears fell down his cheeks like the rain, he couldn't even speak anymore.

There were no charities in the magical world, all of the single parents needed to raise their children by themselves and there were only two options for orphans: being adopted by a relative or a kind witch or wizard, the other would be to send them to Muggle orphanages.

"Voldy, you and I both know what it means to send those orphans to Muggle orphanages, Muggles would fear and alienate them, everyone would shut them out." Harry remembered his childhood growing up with the Dursleys and the times he spent at the orphanage, he didn't want those poor children who lost their parents so early in their lives to be treated as monsters. "Please, Voldy, I beg you, please…"

All Voldemort could see was Harry's black hair, but Voldemort could just imagine the tears that covered Harry's face by the way his body was shaking and the teary sound of his voice.

Harry must have remembered his years in the orphanage, the fear and disdained look in those Muggles' eyes, the constant distance between him and everyone else, no child could stand this, no matter how strong he was. Voldemort thought.

Voldemort restrained himself from hugging Harry in public and comfort him; instead, he handed Harry a handkerchief and said in a kind and loving tone, "Alright, alright, I'll get right on this once we get home. I promise you that I will make sure that all single-parent families and orphans would be taken care of. Let's not cry, alright? You tears are making my heart ache."

Harry was moved at the beginning, but he felt really weird at the last sentence. Wasn't this what boyfriends say to girlfriends to soothe them?

"Ah, Mr. Voldemort, Mr. Potter, you're back, finally."

The person that said this was a round wizard with a bowler hat in his hand and smiles of adulation on his face. Beside him was a tall, skinny old man, who immediately focused his intelligent eyes on Harry.

"Hello Minister Fudge." Harry said coldly.

"Mr. Potter, you performance tonight was spectacular, it was amazing." Dumbledore praised, "especially those combinations of protection spells and fixed attacking curses. It was perfectly done, beyond anyone's imagination."

Alarms rang through the roof inside Harry, he quietly stepped back behind Voldemort, and said, "Headmaster, I didn't have any other choice at the time, all I did was use the things I learned at school, but combining them with each other; I was also very shocked at the results." The protection Harry put around the field was very powerful and powerful wizards, such as Dumbledore, would for sure see through it; but there was no way that Harry was going to admit it.

Dumbledore nodded and smiled, "Under such critical circumstances, you were still able to create such powerful magical protections, you really are a talented student."

"It's all thanks to the teachings of the professors." Harry smiled fakely, ever since he became a Slytherin, the number of times he fake smiled just kept on increasing.

"Enough, Dumbledore, we need to talk about more important things." Voldemort cut it at the right time, "Harry, why don't you go see Severus."

"Yes, uncle." Harry quickly took the opportunity to escape Dumbledore's twinkling eyes.

Fudge didn't know what to say, he was scared of Voldemort and Dumbledore, and when the two joined together, all he could do was listen and follow orders.

"Who allowed you to give an order like that? Don't harm the giants? I lost close to forty followers!" Voldemort shouted at Fudge in anger.

"The Order of the Phoenix also lost some of our elites." Dumbledore said lightly. In reality, his loss was much greater than Voldemort's, because unlike Voldemort, he didn't keep useless people as targets for the enemy.

Sweat fell down Fudge's forehead, he stumbled, "I…I was following your orders, both of you seemed to care about the giants."

This was the truth, both Dumbledore and Voldemort cared about the giants, but that was because they had satisfactory fighting skills, and they were easy to manipulate.

"The times are different. As the Minister of Magic, you should've been able to make the right decisions during the right situation. Because of your mistake, you caused great losses for me," Voldemort looked at Dumbledore for a second, "And also caused great losses for Dumbledore. I'm beginning to suspect that you have some type of connection to the person behind today's attack. From now on, you're not the Minister of Magic anymore. Terry, take him to the Ministry, you know what to do."

An Auror appeared, took away Fudge's wand, and took him away.

"Why bother, he is just a bit dumb and couldn't figure out the situation." Dumbledore said slowly.

"Maybe," Voldemort smiled coldly, "Dumbledore, you should've known about that order before I did, why didn't you put a stop to it?"

The old man pushed his glasses up, "At that time, outside the field, other than the Aurors, there were no witches or wizards alive, it won't help much by changing the order. Plus, I enjoy putting the icing on the cake."

*****

At ten in the morning, Voldemort and Dumbledore announced together that all of the enemies had been eliminated and that it was safe for everyone to go home; there would be a rematch of the Quidditch World Cup Finals on another day.

When Harry returned home, he was immediately wrapped around from head to toe by Nagini, she gave Harry a check-up using her own ways. {You seem well.}

Harry hugged the giant snake's cold body and kissed her giant head, {Nagini, my dear, I really missed you.}

{I also missed you, dear. When I heard on the radio that the campsite was attacked, I flipped! Good thing that you're alright.}

{Alright, Nagini, let Harry get some sleep, he didn't get any sleep last night.} Voldemort ordered, he didn't want Harry chatting with this wordy snake with deep black circles under his eyes.

Harry was very tired; he fell asleep deeply as soon as his head hit the pillow.

*****

Light from the sunset covered Voldemort Manor in a gold mist, the quiet and peaceful scene gave people the urge to cry. Harry slowly pulled open the curtains and took in a deep breathe of the dry summer air. The bloody battle of this morning seemed like a dream under the beautiful view.

But Harry knew that it wasn't a dream, the twenty or so newspapers that spread across the living room couch also proved that it wasn't a dream. On the very top was a _Daily Prophet_ Special Edition that was about one inch thick. The top news headline read: _Quidditch World Cup Finals' Bloody Night_, below were two photos that took up the rest of the first page: one was of Harry ruthlessly killing a troll, the other was of Harry gently holding a crying baby. The story described in detail the attack of that morning, listed the names of the 4,719 people that died that night, including those whose body could not be found. The story also praised Voldemort and Harry, especially Harry, saying that he was "the most unselfish and most respected wizard", and without a doubt, Harry should receive an Order of Merlin. At the same time, it pointed out the mistakes that Fudge made in regards to the attack, hinting that Fudge may have been in collaboration with the enemy, saying that Fudge should be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss.

The other fourteen English newspapers also published the same content; the rest were foreign newspapers. Harry was only able to read the two from America. They probably all wrote about the same story, because the photos used were all about this morning.

Thinking back carefully, Harry seemed to remember that when he was fighting the trolls, some one did flash something beside him. Seemed like no matter which world or which time they were in, all reporters were able be do anything for their job, even if it meant risking their lives.

{You're a stupid child, all you needed to do was protect yourself, what did you save those dumb humans for?} Nagini swam over and put her head on Harry's shoulder.

Harry smiled, {Nagini, some of those people are the purebloods that Voldy likes so much.}

Nagini swing his tail in disdain. {They couldn't even overcome those tiny Runes, who cares if they died. Anyways, those purebloods have a lot of bastards; they have plenty of heirs.}

Harry giggled at this, {You may be right.} This was a world where the powerful lived. {Oh right, where's Voldy? Did he go to the Ministry?}

Nagini shook her head, {He should've gone, but he hasn't had the time to go yet.}

Huh? Harry was confused.

"This is all, just do as Harry say." Voldemort walked down the stairs as he spoke to one of his followers, behind him followed thirty or forty Death Eaters. Harry met most of them at last year's Christmas Party. The one that Voldemort was speaking to was Jim Green, Voldemort's personal financial advisor. What made Harry uncomfortable was the fact that Jim looked like Harry, black hair, green eyes; they way he looked at Harry also gave Harry the creeps.

Voldemort saw Harry, "You've only slept for a little while, do you want to go back to bed?" He kissed Harry on the forehead.

Harry shook his head, he had enough sleep. "You're going to the Ministry?"

"Yes, otherwise Dumbledore would have everything his way and that won't be good for the Death Eaters." Voldemort took a file of documents from Jim's hands and handed them to Harry, "I didn't have much time, so maybe I didn't think of everything. But you take a look, and if you don't like anything, just tell Jim and he'll make the changes." He kissed Harry on the checks, "I must go, I probably won't be back before September First. If you need to go out, take Nagini with you, so you have someone. Alright?"

"Okay." Harry nodded obediently. When it came to him, Voldemort was always a bit too tense, so it would be better if he just listened.

After Voldemort left and Harry was back sitting on the couch again, he finally had the time to look at the documents Voldemort gave to him before he left.

"The Harry Potter Foundation?" Just by looking at the name, Harry couldn't help it but shout a little.

"Yes, Master Harry, because the Foundation was your idea." Jim answered with deep respect.

"But it was all Voldy's money…" Harry muttered. He was penniless, he even depended on Voldemort to raise him.

A mix of complex emotions quickly crossed Jim's face: sadness, hurt, jealously, hatred, and a bit of fear. But he quickly composed himself, "What's master's is yours."

Oh, yes, that's right. If Voldemort died, as his only nephew, Harry would inherit all of his property, Harry didn't doubt it. "But, still…never mind, he made up his mind already."

The documents that Voldemort gave Harry were the blueprints for the Foundation that Harry suggested. At first, Voldemort started on the plans just to comfort Harry; but very quickly, he realized that setting up a foundation like this could bring many advantages to him. First, it could bring him a good name; although he didn't care about a good name, it could fool those simple minded wizards and witches. Second, it could baffle the enemy; of course, the number of those baffled won't be too large and they won't be too important either, but it was better than none. Third, he would need to send followers to take care of those orphans and single-parent children, who could be influenced to become loyal Death Eaters in the future. Forth, most people would thank those who gave them help when most needed; when the war breaks out in the future, most of those people that received aid from the Harry Potter Foundation could be influenced by the help they received. With all of these advantages, Voldemort put even more effort into drafting the blueprint. Therefore, what was presented to Harry was a plan so perfect not even one spelling mistake could be found.

Harry had to give Voldemort credit for his natural talent, it seemed like there was nothing in the world that Voldemort couldn't do a perfect job at. "I don't need to change anything, Voldy has already done a perfect job." He closed the file and handed it back to Jim. "Was this the reason that Voldy didn't go to the Ministry, because he was designing this blueprint?" He remembered what Nagini said about "hasn't had the time to go yet".

"Yes, Master put a lot of effort into this." Sadness could be seen through Jim's eyes. Ever since this Young Master Harry came into sight, Master's heart had been attached to him and disregarded all of his previous lovers. He was the most pitiful of all, because he was Master's personal financial advisor, he constantly stayed by Master's side; he had to force himself to peacefully endure Harry Potter, who now had all the love of his beloved Master; the glory envied by his love rivals before now became the foundation of the pain that was stabling his heart every single day.

Harry, who had always been slow when it came to feelings, didn't see the pain in Jim's eyes. Harry had the faintest knowledge about Voldemort's sex life, but most of it was within the school boundaries; plus, after Halloween last year, Voldemort had stopped calling students to warm his bed at night, so Harry had no idea that Voldemort had a whole herd of lovers that looked like him outside of school. At most, Harry felt that the way Jim looked at him was a bit weird, filled with hidden bitterness; he had no idea what kind of order Voldemort gave to his followers for him.

Right now, Harry was focusing on slowly rubbing his temples, he just realized that he was even more indebted to Voldemort; of course, he was already so indebted to that man that this didn't really make that much of a difference. But Voldemort risked having Dumbledore taking more power in the Ministry from him by doing what Harry asked of him first, he felt a bit guilty at this. The advantages of the charity would only start to show in many years, but without him in the Ministry, the influence and poers that the Death Eaters fought so long for could be greatly reduced.

Together with this and the kiss – which Harry's body began to turn warm every time just by thinking about it – even if Harry was slow when it came to feelings, he understood what Voldemort wanted from him. Harry laughed bitterly, he couldn't believe it, Voldemort liked him! No wonder the way that man acted towards him felt a bit too intimate.

After realizing everything, Harry felt even more tormented and depressed; there was no falling in love within his life plan, not to mention falling in love with Voldemort. It was already difficult enough for him to be stuck in between the war and stay neutral, now adding in Voldemort, it was better if he was dead already.


	14. Chapters 53 to 55

**Chapters 53 – 55**

Seemed like Harry needed to have a good talk with Voldemort when he came back. He didn't need surprises in his life, no matter what type of surprise it was.

Harry dismissed Jim after he solved that difficult problem for now, and started on his summer homework. For the past months, he spent most of his time travelling through England with Voldemort to watch the Quidditch World Cup and forgot all about his homework; now, with half a month until the beginning of school, he should start on his homework.

For the next few days, Harry would do his homework in the morning, then ride the rollercoaster with Nagini and watch movies with her in the afternoon; he led a very relaxing life, at least on the surface.

Three days before the start of the new school year, after Harry finished breakfast, a House-Elf informed Harry, "Master Harry, you school supplies is needing more, is Master needing us to purchase?"

Harry only then realized that he hadn't brought his sixth year books and supplies yet, he also needed some more potion ingredients. He should also change the flavour of Hedwig's snacks. Now that he thought about it, ever since he came back for the summer, he hadn't had the chance to go shopping in Diagon Alley yet; he could take this opportunity to get some air. "That's alright, I'll go myself."

{By yourself? Don't forget what Voldy said before he left.} Nagini patted Harry with his tail.

Harry also patted Nagini's head in return, {Of course I didn't forget, you're coming with me.}

After they arrived at Diagon Alley, Harry could feel that everything felt different than before. The hostile looks from before almost all disappeared, many more people than before from within the crowd would take off their hats and bow to Harry, boys and girls looked at him with eyes of admiration and worship. Lights constantly flashed here and there. If it wasn't for Nagini starring at them hungrily, the reporters might rush up to Harry as if he was some sort of delicious food and divide him into pieces, so each of them would have something to interview.

Harry's first stop was Flourish and Blotts where he met two people he knew; or to be exact, two people he knew from his previous time: head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Barty Crouch Senior, and his son, Barty Crouch Junior.

Barty Crouch Jnuior was a thirteen year old Ravenclaw, Harry saw him a couple of times at Hogwarts.

Right now, the young boy's face was flushed with excitement and his eyes were shining like the stars; he screamed as if he saw some kind of celebrity superstar, "Harry!" He ran a few steps to get to Harry's side, "You were so great! You looked so cool in that picture where you killed that troll!"

It had been a long time since some one praised Harry like that, he felt a bit of heat crawling onto his ears. "Um…thanks, Barty, I only did what I was supposed to do."

"Oh, stop being so modest, Harry, it wasn't what underaged wizards were supposed to do, and it also wasn't something all adults could do either." Barty Crouch Junior looked at Harry with eyes of worship, "My mum told me that most of the adults don't even have the power to fight a giant that easily, those were for the very best of the best Aurors." Barty Crouch Junior was getting more excited as he spoke.

Harry's shy personality caused him to never get used to being praised; all he could do was just awkwardly stand there while being buried in the sea of praises. Beside him, Nagini was howling with his own type of hissing laughter.

"Enough, Barty." The person that saved Harry was Barty Crouch Junior's father, a person so meticulous that it scared most people.

"Mr. Harry Potter did make a great contribution to society on the night of August 15th, however, at the same time, he also broke many laws." Barty Crouch Senior said with a very serious tone, he grabbed his son to his side. "The person that should be condemned the most is Voldemort, teaching underaged wizards the Unforgivables, I wonder what he is trying to accomplish with that."

Barty Crouch Senior's eyes pierced Harry like a sharp knife, if Harry never experienced the battlefield, he would be shaking with fear now. "Under some circumstances, it is necessary to teach underaged wizards the Unforgivable." From what Harry knew, many of the Death Eaters' children survived with their basic knowledge of the Unforgivables.

"Oh?" Barty Crouch Senior hooked his eyes on Harry as if he was a poisonous snake focusing on his food, "Then Mr. Potter, how many people have you killed already that allowed you to be so calm when using the Unforgivables?"

"Mr. Crouch, please watch your choice of words." Harry frowned, it seemed like Barty Crouch Senior really didn't like him, weird. Seemed liked Barty Crouch Senior really hated Dark Magic.

"Dad, Harry didn't do anything wrong!" It seemed like Barty Crouch Junior wasn't very happy with his father's attitude towards Harry.

Barty Crouch Senior scowled, "Quiet, Barty! You really should change some of your ideals." Then he grabbed his son and left, not caring at the fact that his son was struggling hard to get free.

{How annoying.} Nagini was very angry, {Dumbledore's lackey; we can't let him become the Minister of Magic.}

{Minister of Magic? Professor Dumbledore nominated Crouch?} This was first time Harry heard of such confidential information.

Nagini dropped her head in defeat, {You're Voldy's nephew, do you not read the memos that Voldy sends everyday?}

{He…he he…} Harry laughed awkwardly, he didn't want to get involved too much, so that's why he didn't read them, {Who did Voldy nominate?}

{Frank Malfoy.} Nagini shook her head, {But neither of them seems likely, the new Minister should be someone like Fudge. After all, there is only _one_ Minister of Magic.}

After Harry brought his sixth year books and a new flavoured owl snack, he decided to stock up on potions ingredients and then take a break from the summer heat with ice cream at Florean Fortescue's. However, when they arrived at the Apothecary, they saw Snape.

Snape didn't seem too good, he looked wan and sallow with melancholy eyes, his hair was even greasier than before.

"Severus, what happened? You seem really scary." Harry quietly took a step back, "How many days had it been since you took a shower?"

Snape lifted his listless eyes and seemed really pleased to see Harry, "It's so great seeing you here, I need to talk to you about something."

"Do you need my help?"

"No, I just need to say it to someone."

Oh, so he's looking for an emotional trashcan, Harry was a bit depressed at the thought. It seemed like ever since he came to this time, he constantly worked as an emotional trashcan.

Two wizards and one snake came to Florean Fortescue's, Harry hinted at Nagini for her to eat her ice cream on the other side of the shop, while he and Snape sat down at a corner table.

"What happened?" Harry took a big spoonful of ice cream and put it in his mouth.

Snape didn't like sweets, he ordered a bowl of ice cream but didn't seem like he was going to eat it. "We all went home on the sixteenth, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Lupin came to find me that afternoon." Said Snape.

Harry smiled, "To thank you for saving him right? I never thought that you were actually able to give up your life for him." If the two of them were able to become friendlier because of this, it wouldn't put to waste what Snape did for him.

Snape stared at him for a few seconds and then slowly nodded his head, but then shook his head, "He did came to thank me, but then he gave me a tough problem."

"What tough problem?" Harry swallowed another big spoonful of ice cream, the chilly sensation made him feel like his blood was also turning into ice, what a pleasant sensation!

"He asked me if I knew who the Half-Blood Prince was." Snape lowered his voice.

This caused Harry to choke on his ice cream, his face was bright red from coughing. "Wha…What? He knew?" Harry stumbled.

Snape sighed, "Do you remember asking him to help me close my potions kit?"

Harry nodded his head quickly, "It has something to do with this?" Then he remembered, "Wait, I remember you putting the Wolfsbane potion in the…"

"In the potions kit, which I carry with me all the time; I wanted to ask Professor Voldemort to help me test it."

"He saw it?" Harry asked, in an affirmative tone.

"So when he asked me, I said no. Then he asked me why did I have the Wolfsbane Potion with me, I said Professor Voldemort ordered me to improve it."

"He believed you?" Harry felt a bit dizzy; could Lupin be that easy to fool?

"No, but I didn't tell him anything more either," Snape paused for a bit, "He's in love with the Half-Blood Prince."

"Huh!" Harry only had to think about it for a second before understanding. Knew that Lupin was a Werewolf, but still did all those things for his sake, took care of him to the last detail; with all of these, it would be very easy for Lupin, who always thought of himself as inferior to everyone else, to fall in love with the Half-Blood Prince. "What do you think?"

Snape looked at Harry with a smile that didn't seem like a smile, "What do I think? What could I think? It's not like I could tell him that I'm the Half-Blood Prince." Even though Lupin, inside him, already firmly believed that he was the Half-Blood Prince; that afternoon, Lupin looked at him with those eyes that were filled with love, waiting for him to give an affirmative answer. As long as Snape nodded his head, the wonderful life that Lupin had been waiting days and nights for would come true.

Harry scoped up another spoonful of ice cream, but he didn't have the urge to eat it all at once anymore, "Severus, are you planning on hiding this from him for his entire life? Aren't you afraid that he'll get together with someone else?" He understood the difficulties between Snape and Lupin, but anything could change, maybe in the end, the problems they have now won't be such a problem anymore…fine, maybe that's only a wonderful hope.

"As he has already fallen in love with the Half-Blood Prince, he won't fall in love with anyone else. He's very simple when it comes to love." Harry nodded, it would be very difficult for Lupin to change his mind. "After Professor Voldemort wins the war, it I survived the war, I'll tell him."

"What if he dies in the war?" Harry asked.

Snape shook his head, "He won't die."

"You won't be able to protect him all the time." Harry rolled his eyes, "Anything could happen on the battlefield."

Snape replied in a very serious tone, "He won't die before I do."

Why is it so difficult! Harry bemoaned to himself. He wanted to strangle Snape for his stubbornness. "Fine, fine, let's not talk about the future now. How did you solve the Lupin problem?"

Snape's pursed his thin lips into a line. After a while, he responded, "_Obliviate_."

"You're too cruel!" Harry examined, "You didn't also erase the part where you saved him, right?"

"I'm not that stupid, they'll be able to tell something was wrong." Snape rolled his eyes.

Harry had to admit defeat, he knew he won't be able to be that cruel, erasing his loved one's memory of loving him. In order for Lupin to live a happy life, Snape could be unbelievably cruel.

"You're both going to survive the war, Severus, I promise." After finishing his ice cream, Harry promised to himself quietly.

*****

Two days after Harry returned from Diagon Alley, which was also August 31st, Voldemort returned home from the Minister of Magic after working endlessly for half a month. When the House-Elves came to tell Harry the news, he was watching TV was Nagini. Nagini raced out of the room after hearing the news; Harry hesitated for a second before following Nagini out. He didn't go out to greet Voldemort because he missed him, it was because Voldemort was his uncle and it was the proper thing to do, Harry said to himself.

Voldemort seemed thin and sallow after working so hard for half a month, you could tell how tired he was from his face. Voldemort used too much energy fighting with and trying to outwit Dumbledore, if it wasn't for Harry, who gave him a great starting point, he didn't know if he would have been able to win this battle. Even though the public's opinion of the Order of the Phoenix wasn't so great right now, the old, sly Dumbledore still managed to stole a Senior Deputy Minister position from him. No wonder he was a teacher, not showing anything on the surface, giving everyone a grandfather look, but was so sly and cunning on the inside. Good thing was that the Order of the Phoenix only had one person so cunning, everyone else were all bookworms that were so old-fashioned that they could be considered antiques.

{Voldy, you must be really tired from fighting with that Dumbledore for half a month.} Nagini greeted Voldemort when she saw him.

Voldemort looked at the path where Nagini came from and was very happy when he saw Harry walking down the steps; even though his green eyes were trying to avoid him, he was still looking at Voldemort.

{I'm fine, Nagini, how's Harry?} He padded Nagini on the head.

{He's fine, just staring out into space a lot.} Nagini's voice contained a bit of laughter. Before, when Harry was speaking to her, he would never wonder off, but after Voldemort left, as time passed, the number of time Harry wondered off also increased; for the past two days, he spent his entire days in Voldemort's study, he said he was reading, but every time that Nagini went inside, Harry was reading the same page.

Voldemort took a couple of big steps and stopped right in front of Harry, he carefully looked over Harry. After half a month of not seeing each other, Harry's face, which used to be a bit round from Voldemort's force feeding, seemed to be a bit skinner, showing off his pointy chin, but everything else seemed good, his spirit seemed high too. "You're skinner, do you not like the House-Elves' cooking?"

Harry quickly shook his head, "No, I like them."

"Then how come you're skinner?" Could it be that he missed him too much? A little fantasy bubble happily formed in Voldemort's head.

"Um, because I'm too fat, so I'm trying to lose weight." Ever since they laid out their uncle-nephew relationship, it was the first time that Voldemort left Harry for such a long time; the only contact they had was the letter delivered by owls every morning, which was written by Voldemort the night before when he was going to sleep, any other time he was too busy as his schedule was filled to the last second. But Harry didn't want to Voldemort to know that the reason he couldn't eat was because he wasn't able to see Voldemort. He already decided that he didn't want any changes to his life plan.

After hearing Harry's answer, Voldemort almost laughed out loud, as for Nagini, she didn't even bother holding in her laugher and was already rolling on the ground on the other side. After almost a year of nutritious food feeding Harry, he was able to escape his skeleton figure and began to show the body figure of a normal teenage boy, he did not need to lose weight at all.

Seemed like his little one didn't know how to lie at all.

"Don't lose weight, Harry, you should be gaining some more weight." Voldemort hugged Harry's thin shoulders, "You're too skinny."

When they returned to the living room and told all the House-Elves to leave them, Voldemort grabbed Harry's waist and sat on an armchair.

Harry wondered off for a bit, he was finally able to put down many of his thoughts.

He then returned to focus. He had very good eyesight now, he could tell that Voldemort was very tired from working endlessly for half a month, the thing he should be doing right now was sleeping. Harry could wait until after school starts to have his talk, he wasn't in such a hurry. "Voldy, you should rest, Hogwarts starts tomorrow."

Voldemort felt his heart warm up with this, even though Harry still didn't want to be too close to him, a simple sentence of care would make him happy for a very long time, the tiredness he felt all over his body seemed to disappear all together.

"It's ok, I'm not tired. There are some things I can only tell you face to face."

"Did you find out?" Harry paused for awhile, but couldn't stop him from asking.

Voldemort nodded a little, "Combining the strength of the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, we would be able to find out anything, no matter how secretive it was."

"Who did it?"

"The Goblins."


	15. Chapters 56 to 58

**Chapters 56 – 58**

Immediately, an image appeared in Harry's mind: a little creature with pointy ears, long fingers and wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold standing in front of the white marble building of Gringotts; they were greedy and deceitful creatures with powerful magic. "For…their own greed?"

This wasn't the first time that the goblins attacked wizards, the last time when they openly attacked, it could be said that they were honourable creatures; but this time, they took the most treacherous path.

"They wanted to stir up trouble for the wizards so they could gain more, but what they didn't plan on was the giants, trolls, and inferi escaping their control. They didn't even see it coming." Voldemort curled his lips; those tiny creatures would always be a bunch of clowns, nothing more.

Harry still didn't understand, "How could they control the inferi? And where did they get the potion ingredients needed for the Runes?" Goblins were clueless when it came to those things.

"Of course some wizards provided them assistance, but everything has now been resolved." Voldemort sneered thinking of the massive "clean-up" that caused everyone in the Magical World to be in a constant state of fear and worry; they caught many people, but exactly how many of them were involved in the attack, no one knew. To Voldemort, he rather kill 1000 innocent people, then letting one guilty escape. Dumbledore was very against this at the beginning, but in the end, he had to agree when many members of the Order of the Phoenix also demanded this. When facing the wounds of their dear ones, no one would care about the fear of others.

"Then, what's the punishment for those goblins, giants, and trolls? Don't tell me they won't be punished because they are Magic al Creatures. Even though many of them weren't involved in the attack, I'm sure they were all involved in the planning!"

"The leaders are all locked in Azkaban and given the Dementor's Kiss, the rest are all sentenced to 200 years in the Ice Prison in the North. Magical Creatures Law will be rewritten, goblins', giants', and trolls' rights will be decreased to history's lowest point." Voldemort described lightly.

This wasn't all of it, there were many others, such as Voldemort's suggestion of wizards taking control of Gringotts, but it was rejected by Dumbledore, "Not all goblins were involved in this attack, Professor Voldemort, the goblins working at Gringotts had always followed wizards law throughout history." Damnit! He was able to take control of Gringotts with this opportunity, but that damned old fool just had to ruin it for him.

Voldemort also told Harry some other confidential information:

Number one: the new Minister of Magic, just as Nagini expected, was not Barty Crouch Senior, nor Frank Malfoy, instead, the new Minister was a member of the Wizengamot, who was as old as a wizard could be. Barty Crouch Senior and Frank Malfoy all became Senior Deputy Ministers.

Number two: the Quidditch World Cup Finals Rematch would be held on October 20th. This time, other than the VIP section, no tickets would be required, all wizards and witches were free to come and watch the match; it could be seen as a way of remembering those whose lives were lost on the night of August 15th.

Number three: Harry would be awarded an Order of Merlin, First Class, the award ceremony would take place on December 15th, at Hogwarts, at the same time, the unveiling ceremony of Harry's statue would also take place.

"Statue?" Harry felt his lips twitch. He did remember reading something on the newspaper about people saying he should receive a statue, but he didn't pay too much attention to it, he didn't think they were actually going to build him a statue. "This is too much." He muttered quietly.

"No, it is not too much. You saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of witches and wizards. It is only natural to build a statue for you." Voldemort even believed that what Harry received was too little. Only someone like his little Harry would not care about the fame or the fortune; if it was any other child, such as that James Potter, he probably would want to reserve the Minister of Magic position for himself right now.

Number four: after half a month of planning, the Harry Potter Foundation was officially open, 1000 orphanages were created around the world to take care of orphans of Magical descent; single mothers would receive 100 Galleons per month and would also be able to work in one of Voldemort's businesses around the world.

"Thank you, Voldy." Harry was so moved that he couldn't control himself and hugged Voldemort. This man continuously moved him and brought him surprises, making him happy and sad at the same time. This man, why was he Voldemort? Why did he have to be Voldemort?

"Are you truly happy, Harry?" Voldemort looked at Harry with a curious look. He was supposed to be very happy, so why did he have a hint of sadness around his eyes? What was Harry sad about? He desired to know the answer, but he wasn't certain that Harry would want to tell him. This child had so many mysteries on him, such as his odd, but very strong magical powers, such as he could stay very calm when facing though enemies. All of these made him even more mysterious, but they also gave him the sorrows he couldn't forget. And Harry would rather keep those sorrows to himself than tell anyone about them.

When Voldemort had his Death Eaters look into Harry's past, they could only find things after Harry turned eleven, before that, Harry's life was blank, it was as if he just appeared one day, they couldn't find anything for the first ten years of Harry's life. If it wasn't for Harry's age, Voldemort would've thought that Harry once again used the Time-Turner.

The only thing Voldemort was sure of was that Harry had a very difficult past, and that past created Harry's mysteriousness, it also gave Harry the sorrows he couldn't get rid of.

Voldemort's question awakened Harry, from the man's bright red eyes, Harry saw his own reflection: happy on surface, worried and sad on the inside. Just by thinking about his relationship with Voldemort, Harry just couldn't be happy. Voldemort was his enemy; he would kill his parents, and almost kill him too, just for a prophecy. But, it was also Voldemort, who gave him the warmness of a family he desired, letting him feel what it was like to be loved and cared for by family. Even before Harry came to this time, he desired for a day where he could just have some peace and quiet, a day where he didn't have any "Saviour of the World" duties, a day without those rock heavy eyes of hope looking at him. Now, he almost succeeded in having this type of life, but Voldemort's feelings would destroy this.

Making up his mind, Harry turned around, {Nagini, I have something to say to Voldy, can you…}

Nagini swaged her tail, the hissing sound seemed like she was laughing, {I know, I know, I'm leaving now.}

Quickly, she left the room.

{I'm getting the feeling that what you want to say is not something that I would want to hear." Not caring about Harry's weak struggles, Voldemort pulled him onto his legs and fixed his eyes on Harry, who had a look of determination on him. This child had already made a decision that he didn't want to know.

Harry looked away, but turned back after a few seconds, "Voldy, you like me, right?"

If it was yesterday when Harry asked this, Voldemort would be so happy he might just act like a Gryffindor; but now, combined with Harry's determined look, this question made Voldemort a bit nervous. In the span of a second, many thoughts crossed Voldemort's mind, but in the end, he decided to tell the truth, "'Like' is not enough to described how attracted I am to you, Harry, I love you."

'I love you.'

Harry could taste the bitterness in his mouth, even though he knew the answer, he was still at a loss when he heard it, all of the preparations and words were thrown out of his head. All Harry had in his eyes was Voldemort's serious look, he even knew what Voldemort was feeling like right now: deep happiness mixed with a little bit of sourness and the very fast beating of a heart that was boiling with excitement. Harry was very familiar with this feeling, he had experienced this before when that red haired girl shyly said to him, "I love you!" He was happy and sour at the same time. Who knew that ten years later, but thirty years earlier than that past event, he would once again taste those feelings. But the difference was that last time, happiness and sweetness filled his heart, giving him the courage to continue fighting the enemy; this time, coldness filled his heart, he felt as if his heart dropped straight through a pack of freezing ice.

It seemed like he wasn't unmoved at all, maybe he already fell into the love net unknowingly. The man before him used his care, his concern, his meticulousness, his forcefulness, and his kindness to capture Harry's heart; in his ignorance, Harry lost his love for himself. Falling in love was normal, as long as it was at the right time with the right person. But Harry met the wrong person at the wrong time. He fell in love with the person that would kill his parents, he fell in love with the person that would kill him, he fell in love with the enemy of his life. Maybe, they won't be enemies in this time, but they would never be mates who share the same goals, their thoughts were on the different ends of the spectrum. Between them was a deep gap that couldn't be crossed; love couldn't fill this gap, even love couldn't fix everything.

"Shouldn't you love a pureblood?" Harry looked down, even though it was a question, he used an affirmative tone. According to Voldemort's thoughts and actions from the past, his mate should be someone like the Malfoys – pureblood.

Voldemort didn't know how he should explain everything to Harry; tell him that he met the grown-up Harry when he was little? Tell him that he was deeply in love with him ever since he was little? For sure Harry would think he was lying. "According to theory that would be true, but I met you. At first, I just wanted to take care of my only blood relative, but unknowingly, I realized that I couldn't take my eyes of you."

This was one hundred percent the truth. He loved the young man that appeared before him in a sunny afternoon when he was little; the young man that had a tired but strong look, giving of a scent of tiredness, kind, compassion, honesty, and determination. The young man gave him the power to continue living, pointed him in the right direction, urged him to never give up and always keep trying,. The hug that was filled with remorse and kindness was so pleasant that it allowed him to endure endless lonely nights. He also loved this dazzling, low-key, indifferent, and filled with mysteriousness teenager in front of him, his kind and determined personality, the way he courageously moved forward in order to reach his goal, and the way he kept all the sorrows deep down inside of him and put up a bright smile for everyone to see.

Voldemort didn't know whether it was because Harry was that young man or because that young man was Harry, but every night in his dreams, it wasn't just the young man that appear anymore, there was also a teenager.

Voldemort remembered the times when Harry was being forced by him, but still had to endure him, Harry would bulge his cheeks from anger, those unwilling emerald eyes would make Voldemort sympathetic and affectionate in every possible way. The times when Harry would consult him on his studies, those concentrated eyes made it seem that it was the entire world.

Back then, Voldemort didn't understand, he believed that it was because of the future grown-up Harry that he was so sympathetic and affectionate towards this one. Until August 15th, the attack that shook the entire Magical World; when he quickly got to where the Dark Mark was flying, he saw that the Quidditch field was keeping at least a hundred thousand people alive, but the only person that was missing was the one that created this safe heaven: Harry.

"He went to save more people." Snape and Lucius told him with their heads bowed from shame.

Voldemort felt something pinching his heart, an underaged wizard facing giants, who had the toughest body of all magical creatures, and inferi, those scary looking creatures with equally scary powers? Those feelings he felt, the pain, the craziness, and the hopelessness caused him to wonder, was his heart already captured by the teenage Harry and could never get it back.

Harry was still looking down, the stronger Voldemort showed his love towards him, the more terrible he felt. Voldemort was telling the truth, he was sure of that. He knew Voldemort for way too long, allowing him to be able to tell whether Voldemort was lying just by looking at him; he didn't need to use Legilimens. When Voldemort was lying, his lips would curl downwards a little bit, when he was telling the truth, he would squint his eyes a little bit. This was his habit, the habits that would never change. Only people who constantly observed him would realize this, thus without anyone ever telling Voldemort of this, he kept this habit. Just then, Voldemort was squinting his eyes a little, he wasn't lying.

"You love me, but I don't love you." Harry coldly replied Voldemort's hot confession, "I will never love you." Rather than having their love be destroyed little by little with doubt and mistrust in the future, it would be better to kill the little spark right from the beginning.

Voldemort chuckled at this; his laughter confused Harry, could it be that the ever so confident Voldemort was too shocked by his refusal that it caused him to not be able to accept the truth and went crazy?

"Harry, is it that you won't fall in love with me, or that you're scared to fall in love with me?"

Harry's seemed a little guilty, "What's the difference, won't or scared? I don't love you, and that is that, what's with all the excuses?!"

"You have no feeling for me at all?"

"Do I need to lie for something like this –"

Harry's chin, which was so close to his neck because he was looking down, was forcefully lifted, and his thin lips were met with sexy lips.


	16. Chapters 59 to 61

Update 1 of 2

Happy Holidays!

**Chapters 59 – 61 **

Unlike the roughness of last time, Voldemort's kiss was soft and gentle; the honey like affection that escaped from those soft lips caused Harry's head to spin. Voldemort easily opened Harry's mouth; the tongue that ran deep inside Harry's mouth caused another wave of rising pleasure.

"You don't hate my kiss, Harry, which means you at least have some feelings for me." Voldemort's voice was hoarse, he was also breathing hard.

Harry struggled to sit up from Voldemort's lap, his face was red, then white, then back to red; a couple of times, he tried to open his mouth to deny it, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. After finding the courage in him, he quietly muttered, "Have _some_ feelings is not enough, we're to far apart."

Taking a deep breath, Voldemort's eyes once again became clear, realization crossed his face, "Too far apart…you're saying that your beliefs and goals are very different from mine?"

Harry nodded, "Like-minded is the foundation for two people to get along."

Voldemort didn't agree with this, what exactly was like-minded? Only when people had the same beliefs and positions meant they were like-minded? Did enjoying experimenting with Defence Against the Dark Arts meant being like-minded? Did enjoying Quidditch meant being like-minded? "Being like-minded can be many things…"

"Having the same beliefs and position is the basic requirement. A difference in beliefs and position could bring disastrous results."

Voldemort didn't think so, "Fine, let's say I agree with that. But the truth is that the difference between our beliefs isn't as big as you think."

Harry was very angry at Voldemort for being so indifferent, he made it seem like Harry was making too much of a big deal out of a little thing. "You hate Muggles, to you, Muggles should only exist to be playthings for Purebloods. I, on the other hand, think Muggles are very intelligent; even though they don't know Magic, they invented many other ways to overcome that. They should have the same rights as witches and wizards." Harry paused a little and then waved his hand in defeat, "We already discussed this before, both of us already made as much sacrifices as we could; I'll try to accept your position, but I don't know if I really can accept everything. If I'm together with you, this problem that we have will always bother me and continue to hurt me."

"Anything else?" Voldemort asked.

"You can do anything to achieve your goals, you don't care about people's lives, you're cold and cruel…all of these…all of these…are the things I can't stand." Just thinking about the person he fell in love with was such a demoralized person, Harry felt his eyes began to turn warm and wet.

Harry's criticism didn't anger Voldemort at all; on the other hand, he was very happy. A person such as him, who seemed so terrible in Harry's eyes, could allow Harry to have good feelings about him, caused Voldemort to be very satisfied. "Even so, you still have feelings for me."

"That's because…" Harry's voice became even quieter, "That's because you're too good to me." He felt a bit embarrassed.

Voldemort happily hugged Harry's waist and laughed quietly, "You're right, Harry. But, love is a two people thing, why should we bring everyone else into this? When we're together, as long as I'm good to you and you're good to me, that's enough; we don't need to bring anyone else or anything else into this. They're not you, of course I don't need to have mercy on them. Even Dumbledore, many things he does aren't so 'light', but he just put a bright cover on them. Comparing to him, I think I'm the more honourable person.

"You're just making up excuses!" Harry said angrily.

"These aren't excuses, Harry. History is written by the winner and the winner is always right. Dumbledore could say that he is fighting for the peace of the Magical and Muggle World, I could say that I'm fighting to get rid of those worthless Muggles who had hated wizards and witches for centuries." Voldemort raised his hand to stop Harry from opening his mouth. "I know what you mean, you're thinking that's not right, from there you would feel troubled, doesn't know what to do, and start to distrust me, finally destroying the feelings we have for each other. But Harry, why didn't you think that you could change this? When you feel that my actions are out of your limit, you can remind me, correct me, until both you and I could accept that new plan. This way, you won't feel so painful anymore. Plus, with you by my side, I won't be too hard on those Muggles."

Harry felt dizzy from what Voldemort said. Could things be looked at this way? It did seem to make sense, but still, something felt wrong.

Taking in Harry's reaction, Voldemort knew that Harry was starting to doubt his original beliefs and starting to accept what he said. He quickly added another fire, "The future is within your own hands, Harry. Continuing to avoid the problem is not the solution, you need to think about how to solve the problem, letting things happen the way you want them to. If we try, your and my future may be something else."

Harry felt like he was just struck by a lightning, all he could do was just stare. Voldemort's speech made him think of his only goal when he came to this time period: save his parents from Voldemort, thus saving Sirius, with his parents and Sirius around, Remus wouldn't become so destitute. The biggest part of why he didn't want to go any further with Voldemort was because of history; the history he was trying to change. If Voldemort didn't kill his parents, would he still hate Voldemort? Or if he was together with Voldemort, then maybe, Voldemort wouldn't kill his parents anymore?

Harry's thoughts were all over the place, he was very confused at the moment.

The future, could he change it?

Voldemort padded Harry's soft, black hair, "I can wait, Harry, until you think through everything." There was still plenty of time before Harry became of age.

His attitude caused Harry to relax, he really needed a large amount of time to disgust all he heard and thought about today.

*****

September First, the first day of school for Hogwarts.

This time, Harry arrived at the train station much more impressive than ever before: in front of him, a twelve feet snake cleared the path, beside him was one of the most powerful wizards in the Magical World, behind him, a House-Elf pushed his trunk.

His compartment was still the last one on the train, but the seats were filled with candies and pastries, Snape was still the only other person in the compartment.

"Severus, how's everything?" Harry was talking about Remus.

Snape nodded quietly, his eyes were filled with deep loneliness.

Harry's compartment was still quiet as usually, but in another compartment on the same train, James and Sirius, who usually wouldn't be able to sit still for one second, weren't out on the train playing pranks at people, nor did they go find Lily, instead, one was in deep thought, another one was nose deep in a textbook.

Last night, Mr. and Mrs. Potter had a long discussion with James and Sirius, causing the two boys' maturity to leap jump over the night.

This was how Mr. Potter started the discussion, "Even though Dumbledore didn't say anything, but I could tell that he was worried, he was worried that the Order of the Phoenix wouldn't have a successor."

"Impossible! There's me and Sirius!" James shouted and shared a pleased look with his best friend.

"I also thought that the two of you are already good enough, but looking at Harry Potter's performance, I don't have the confidence anymore." Mr. Potter shook his head sadly.

Sirius didn't think so, "The things Harry Potter knew are all forbidden. Apparation is forbidden to use and taught to underaged wizards; Avada Kedavra is the cruelest one out of the three Unforgivable Curses. James and I, being the good kids that we are, should not know any of these."

Mrs. Potter nodded her head, agreeing with Sirius, but then immediately gave a different opinion. "Sirius, the rules you said are for underaged wizards during peaceful times, but right now is definitely not peaceful time, the war could break out at any moment. The attack on August 15th, many underaged wizards survived, some survived because their parents died protecting them, others survived because of the Dark Magic and even Unforgivable Curses taught to them by their parents. The children that came from families of the Order and those that obey by the law, almost none of survived on their own. On this point, the Order is far behind the Death Eaters. We're very worried about the future of the Order's next generation.

Mr. Potter continued, "James, Sirius, both of you think that it was wrong for Harry Potter to use the Killing Curse, correct?"

"Of course it was wrong!" The two children screamed together.

Mr. Potter shook his finger, and explained in a very serous tone to his two sons, "First, when facing the enemy, you must stay calm, a heated attitude may be the cause of defeat. Second, on the battlefield, it's a situation of death for either you or the enemy, as long as you can cause harm to the enemy and protect yourself, you can use any curse. Third, once the war breaks out, the law on the Unforgivable Curses would instantly become useless, no doubt, your enemies would use the Unforgivable Curses on you, therefore, you must also use them on your enemy, if you don't want to die." Looking at the still angry looks on his sons' faces, Mr. Potter continued, "On this point, the Death Eaters and Voldemort are ahead of the Order, Voldemort has Harry Potter, a perfect heir. Even if he died this instant, Harry Potter would be able to replace him and become the second Dark Lord of the Death Eaters. But what about us? If something happens to Dumbledore and the older generation of Order members also aren't with you anymore, how are the two of you, who doesn't even know much about the Unforgivable Curses, expect to lead the Order of the Phoenix?"

"These aren't what worry us the most. What we're most worried about is exactly how much benefit could Harry Potter bring to Voldemort? Harry Potter's performance this time was too amazing, not only did he won himself honour, Order of Merlin, First Class, a statue of himself, he also changed, to an extent, people's attitude towards Voldemort and the Death Eaters. People are all saying, how could Voldemort be a bad person when he has such a kind nephew? The people saved by Harry Potter and their family members, many of them now wanted to join the Death Eaters, not to mention those boys and girls that look to Harry Potter as their idol."

"Then what should we do? We can't let Voldemort get away!" Sirius jumped up from his seat screaming.

"The only thing you need to do is quickly grow up. Become more mature, and stay calm, even cold, when facing situations. You need to learn how to look at the entire situation and not ruin the entire plan because of a little detail. You need to increase your magical abilities, learning more about the Dark Arts would allow you to better defend yourself against them; you need to be able to use the Unforgivable Curses anytime and anywhere. Being just and honourable will not win you the war, it might just lose you the war." Mr. Potter gave them a series of suggestions.

Mrs. Potter gave them suggestions from another angle, "I know that two of you had been picking on a Slytherin boy called Snape since the first day."

Sirius smiled, a bit pleased and proud of himself, "James likes a girl, so he wanted to be able to show off his power around her."

"That girl named Lily Evans? I remember you were looking at her." Mrs. Potter asked, smiling. When James nodded his head, she smiled coldly, "Not only would your performance not be able to win any good graces with that girl, she would dislike you even more."

"How do you know?" James said out loud without thinking, but then regretted it and rubbed his hair, causing it to be even messier.

"I spoke to that girl once, she is a good girl with a lot of ideals and morals, and because of this, everything you did in front of her made you seem naïve and immature in her eyes. A real man does not need to rely on trampling on other's dignity to show off his power, instead, he would only show off when the girl needed help, such as helping a girl get rid of Dementors, such as killing giants to protect her friends…don't look at me this way," Mrs. Potter was unmoved by her son's unbelievable eyes, "Yes, I am talking about Harry Potter. Even though we may be enemies, but it wouldn't stop me from liking him. He is one of the most outstanding wizards I have ever seen, whether it be adults or children. From what I see, only Dumbledore could surpass him, if Voldemort wasn't so evil, then he could also be counted as one."

James held down Sirius, who was about to jump up again, his face was determined as ever, "I won't lose to him. If he could do it, then I could do it; if he couldn't do it, I would also be able to do it!" He promised, he would win the war and beat Harry Potter once and for all!

*****

As usual, Harry and Snape were the last ones to get off the train, Lucius, with his arm around Narcissa were waiting for them beside a carriage. But their eyes continued to steal glances at the front of the carriage, Snape followed their eyes and stopped dead in the spot.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry got on the carriage and put his head out to ask them.

"Carriage…there's something in front of the carriage…" A couple of words escaped from Snape's tightly closed mouth.

Lucius and Narcissa were both a bit weary, "They weren't there before, I thought I was hallucinating, but everyone saw them."

"They were always there, but you just couldn't see them. Only people who have seen death could see Thestrals. They're good at pulling carriages, they're pretty fast when flying too." Harry lightly repeated the knowledge he learnt before and pulled his head back in.

Learning that they were Thestrals, the three children felt a bit uncomfortable. But at least now, they had the courage to get on the carriage.

On the way, they heard two first-year students arguing:

"Gryffindor is the best! Dumbeldore was a Gryffindor!"

"Slytherin is the best! Harry Potter's house must be the best house!"

The four in the carriage all had laughter in their eyes.

When they got off the carriage and was walking up the steps to the Great Hall, the students were all rushing to get inside, but they didn't forget to leave a path just for Harry.

"Harry, seems like you just became the most powerful student at Hogwarts." Snape pointed out.

"In the near future, I'm sure you would be able to become the ideal heir of Professor Voldemort." Lucius agreed with Snape.

Harry didn't disagree, his thoughts weren't on this, his goals weren't on this either, his future…he only wanted to live a quiet life, if Voldemort also wanted to.

Four students rushed by them, they spared Harry and them a look, paused a few seconds and turned back.

The leader had messy black hair, dark blue eyes, facial features similar to Harry's, and Harry's similar, but stronger figures – James Potter.

Harry frowned a little, for the past five years, James would start picking on Snape right when they got off the carriage, he thought that with this summer, this person, who was ever so full of himself, would be able to take in the fact that he saved his life and back down a little, but it seemed like his hopes were too high. But it was expected, even on that bloody night, James was still very hostile towards him.

Harry coldly stared at James walking down the steps until they were on the same level, he took a deep breath, and together with Snape, who became very stiff, prepared for battle.

But –

"Harry Potter, thank you for saving me that night, I would also like to thank you for saving Sirius and Remus." James had a stiff smile on his lips, but his attitude was very sincere, his voice was also a bit loud, at least Harry and the students around them heard him loud and clear. "Snape, thank you for saving Remus."

Harry and Snape stared at each other, Lucius and Narcissa were also very shocked.

What was this James Potter playing at?

"I'm sorry, Harry Potter, that night, my friends and I weren't so good to you, I hope you will forgive me." It seemed like James didn't see Harry and the others' stiffness and their doubtful and alert looks, he continued to say, "Snape, I also need to apologize to you, I was wrong in the past, I hope you would forgive me."

Then, Sirius followed James and said almost the same thing from his mouth.

A trap, they must be planning something!

Harry and James shared a look and then quietly shared a look with Lucius. "That's alright, James Potter, we're all schoolmates, you don't need to make such a big deal out of it. I accept your apology." Didn't matter what James wanted to do and what they needed to face in the future, James apologized first, then showing a kind and accepting attitude was a must.

Snape nodded at James, "Just like what Harry said, we're all schoolmates. You didn't make it too difficult for us in the past and you also formally apologized to us today, then let's just put everything in the past."

"I admire your kindness of heart." James was still sincere as ever, he turned to Harry, "I heard that you are going to become Slytherin's new Seeker?"

"That's right."

James's eyes bright up, "I look forward to playing against you in October. I'm sure it would be very exciting."

"I won't let you down, James Potter." Harry gave a light smile.

"We'll be off then." It seemed like James was just speaking to a good friend and quietly walked away.

"What was he thinking?" Lucius said with disgust, "Is he showing friendship to Slytherins?"

Harry shook his head and smiled, "How could that be." His eyes scanned the crowd around him, "He was only apologizing for his past wrongs, this only meant that he's becoming more mature, more responsible. This would only do well to his image.

Lucius followed Harry's eyesight and lifted an eyebrow, "But I feel that reason not enough for him to act like this, he must be after something."

Snape's voice was cold as usual, "I don't think James Potter is the kind of person who would apologize to the people he looks down at just for a girl."

Harry smiled confidently, "Who cares, who could beat Slytherins when it comes to plotting."

"You're right, that's us Slytherin's strong point." Lucius lifted his chin and said proudly.

"We'll just see what those airheads would be able to come up with." Snape smiled darkly.

*****

"Hey, Lily, did you see? James apologized to Harry Potter and Snape! This is…of course I'm not saying what James did was wrong, I really couldn't stand some of the things he did to Snape."

"…Seemed like that experience with death really did change him a lot, it didn't waste Harry Potter's effort of saving him. This is what a true Gryffindor does, isn't it?"

"Um…you're right. Um…Lily, if James really did change, would you like him?"

"How would I know if he really did change or he's just playing something?"


	17. Chapters 62 to 64

Update 2 of 2

Happy Holidays!

**Chapters 62 – 64**

Older students went into the Great Hall and took their places at the four tables as first year students followed Professor McGonagall to the front of the Hall, with their backs to the Professors and facing older students, while Flich took out the Sorting Hat. It could be seen from their faces that the new students were very curious about this ragged hat.

As usual, the Sorting Hat first sang a very long song before it had the mood to sort the new students. This year, Slytherin had 35 new students, a bit more than usual.

Then, Dumbledore made his usual speech, which included school rules, and directed the students and staff in the school song. "There is one more announcement I would like to make."

Other than Voldemort, whose face was dark and gloomy, the other three Heads of House all looked happy and excited.

"With the Goblins attack on August 15th revealing many problems with our students' ability to use magic outside of school, all the professors and myself had a long discussion," Dumbledore's smile seemed very kind, but Harry had the feeling that Dumbledore was planning something he wouldn't like. "All of us believed that it is necessary to increase your practical use of magic. Therefore, it is decided that starting from next week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night from 7:30 to 9:00, a special Defence Against the Dark Arts tutoring session would be held. I must warn everyone, within these sessions, the three Unforgivable Curses will also be taught."

Even before Dumbledore finished talking, the entire Great Hall was filled with chattering. The Unforgivable Curses had always been a restricted part of any magical school, not one headmaster had the courage to face the wrath of the public by having students learn them. Dumbledore dared to make this suggestion simple because of the high number of underaged wizards and witches that died during the Goblins attack, which was directly correlated to the small amount of attack magic that were able to cause harm taught to the students in school. The students were very excited, the Unforgivables were something underaged students only heard about, but never experienced with, just like Knockturn Alley. Students were always interested, but under the pressure from the parents, they could only stay away from them. Now, they had the chance to study it in the open, everyone seemed like a mouse who just stole a piece of cheese right under a cat's nose, they were all grinning like crazy.

The Slytherin table remained quiet, they realized that something was off from the look on their Head's face. This special Defence Against the Dark Arts tutoring session may not be just a simple tutoring session. In theory, the Goblins attack had been resolved, then that should be the end and everything should return to normal; but Dumbledore was acting very different, deciding to open a special tutoring session, tutor them on Defence Against the Dark Arts, what exactly was he planning?

"To help those constantly dreaming Gryffindors increase their magical abilities? So their death tolls won't be so high when the war starts?" Lucius traced the lines on his wand.

Snape shrugged, "Maybe. Slytherin's performance that night was pretty good."

"Headmaster Dumbledore isn't finished yet." Harry put an end to the whispers on the table. Just a special Defence Against the Dark Arts tutoring session or learning about the Unforgivable Curses wouldn't cause Voldemort's face to look so terrible, Dumbledore hadn't told everyone the most important part yet.

Dumbledore chuckled and lifted his hands, the students slowly started to quiet down. "This special tutoring session is required for fifth years and up, fourth year students are allowed to listen in on the sessions by signing up with their Heads of House, third years and under, it would be best for you to focus on your studies." A couple of younger students let out anger protests, but Dumbledore ignored them, "The location is the Great Hall. As for the person teaching this session, all the professors had their own opinions, but they all thought that because they are professors, there may be some obstacles when communicating with all of you and that would not be beneficial. Therefore, we decided to have top students teach everyone.

The entire hall was silent, everyone's eyes secretly turned towards the Slytherin table.

"His goal is you, Harry!" Snape and Lucius finally understood why Voldemort was so angry. Having Harry tutor the other three houses' students, the kind and selfless Harry would probably teach the students everything he knew, increase the enemy's strength.

"Mr. Harry James Potter, Mr. James Potter." Dumbledore called out.

Harry paused a little, James Potter? As Harry stood up, he glanced at James, he was also confused.

"Mr. Harry James Potter would be teaching you this Defence Against the Dark Arts session, Mr. James Potter would be his assistant." Even before Dumbledore finished, loud applauses rang out through the hall.

"Ah! That's Harry James Potter?" "He seemed like the powerful kind!" "So handsome!" Most new students looked up to this fellow schoolmate who saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

"I have another piece of good news to announce." Dumbledore motioned for the two Potters to sit down. "December 15th is the date that Mr. Harry James Potter would be awarded his Order of Merlin, First Class, and the unveiling of his statue, the ceremony would be held at Hogwarts. At that time, officials from the Ministry of Magic would be at Hogwarts, the headmaster and headmistress of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons would also bring some of their students to attend the ceremony." He paused, waiting for the students' excited shouts to die down, "A banquet would be held that night, all students are welcome to attend."

Immediately, the Great Hall was so loud with excitement that it seemed like it was August 15th all over again.

*****

No matter how amazing the Welcoming Feast was, it could not catch the students' attention, students at the three tables will all talking loudly about the upcoming tutoring session. The Slytherin table was filled with quiet whispers discussing how they could achieve the maximum benefits from this tutoring session.

"Harry, why not teach them things that are really hard, so none of those idiots would be able to understand." Lucius gave James an angry stare.

Snape didn't agree with Lucius, "Those people's basics aren't so good, why not start from the simplest, this would show better results."

Even though Harry understood that Snape's suggestion did not come with good intention, he still agreed. From the D.A. meetings, he could tell that the students did not have a good understanding of the knowledge taught in school; everything was just to pass the exam, when they came face to face with the enemy, death would be their only option. "We'll start from the basic spells and go from there."

After dessert, all the food disappeared from the long tables. Lucius stood up and said to the first year students seated at the end of the table, "First years, follow me, I'm prefect Lucius Malfoy."

Snape grabbed Lucius's hand, "What's the password?" Did he expect everyone to spend the night outside?

Lucius realized his mistake and said quickly, "Meeting Inferi."

"What kind of password is that…" Harry frowned, in the five years he had been in Slytherin, none of the passwords had been normal, they were all either bloody or cocky; completely different from the sunny or funny passwords Gryffindor had.

After the prefects led the first year students out of the Great Hall, the older students started to leave. Harry looked at the High Table, Voldemort wasn't there anymore.

"Professor Voldemort must be waiting for you in the common room." Snape said what both of them already knew.

The Slytherin common room was brightly lit with many lights, Voldemort's bright red eyes were dark red, showing off how angry the owner felt right now. Immediately after he returned to Hogwarts, he was called to the headmaster's office by that Dumbledore bastard. One headmaster, three heads of house, together put pressure on him, saying that it was for the students' protection, but in reality, they were after Harry's strange, but powerful magic; they wanted to use this "special tutoring session" to understand more about Harry's magical powers, analyze them, find a solution to overcome them, thus decreasing Harry's threat to the Order of the Phoenix.

But it could also be good, Voldemort had originally planned on having Harry tutor Slytherin students, but he was afraid that Harry wouldn't agree and had delayed the plan. Dumbledore's suggestion came at a very good time, the Order of the Phoenix wanted to decrease Harry's threat through learning about his magical theory and abilities, he could also use Harry's magical theory and abilities to increase the Death Eaters' strength.

Dumbledore very well understood that this was a double edge sword, seemed like Harry really disturbed him. He had handed over a very talented wizard to the enemy just like that, that damned old fool must be in deep regret right now, he was probably pulling his beard out in anger. It was his own fault! That old fool had always been very pleased with his ability to hide his discrimination, this time, he lost a great opportunity! Just thinking about Dumbledore sitting behind his desk that was covered with weird silver instruments, regretting his heart out, Voldemort immediately felt much better, his original anger was all gone.

When Harry walked in, he saw Voldemort speaking to fourth to seventh year students with a bright smile on his face. "All fourth years are to go and listen, sixth years all of you work hard during the lessons, Lucius and Severus, the two of you will hold a review session the night after each session to help them review everything that was learned." The two whose names were called, bowed to accept the task. "Fifth years and seventh years, you're going to be busier with the exams at the end of the year, but Harry's tutoring session would allow you to have a better understanding of your studies, so you must focus during the sessions." He turned his head, saw Harry and stood up to leave, "Harry, walk me back, I have something to say to you."

He said he had something to say to Harry, but until they reached Voldemort's bed chambers, Voldemort still hadn't open his mouth.

"Just tell me what you want to say, is it that you don't want me to teach the other houses anything useful?" Harry was very annoyed and just let out everything.

Voldemort showed a surprised look, "How could I hope for you to do something that's against your morals? Teach them anything you want."

Just like that? Harry curiously stared at the wizard; why was this man, who would never lose on anything, being so generous today? There must be something!

"Of course, it would be much better if you could give the Slytherins an extra session each Wednesday." Voldemort told Harry his plan with a bright smile.

He's still Voldemort. "That might be too hard on the Slytherins, it would be better if it was once every two or three weeks." Harry wanted to punch himself, why did he agree to this so easily?

"Then once every two weeks it is." Voldemort was getting happier and happier.

*****

Gryffindor's atmosphere was much different from Slytherin's, many students were very doubtful at whether Harry would seriously teach them any useful things. It was no secret that the two houses did not get along; Gryffindor students picking on Harry and Snape was not a rare event either.

Some one asked James uncertainly, "James, do you think Harry Potter would teach us something really difficult to make a fool out of us?" A large number of Gryffindors nodded in agreement. They were going to have the sessions with the three other houses, it was the best time to make a fool out of them, Harry Potter was a Slytherin, it would be normal for him to do something like that.

James frowned, "What exactly are all of you thinking? Harry Potter saved six Gryffindors from the giants during the Goblins attack, just from that, Harry Potter is not that kind of person. He's very forgiving, if it was any other Slytherin, we might not be able to make it out of the session alive.

Sirius agreed, "If it was that greasy Sniv…oh, if it was Snape, then the entire Gryffindor might be forced to jump into the lake.

"Then what if he's not serious about teaching us?" Another asked, "I don't believe Professor Voldemort would be so generous to let his hard to come heir teach any one else magic, other than Slytherins."

That was true. James waved his hand handsomely, "I believe that Harry Potter is not that kind of person. Even if he did use this method, he wouldn't be able to just teach us useless things and get away with it, it's always better to practice more."

This made everyone nod in agreement, "That's right, there's four houses, we'll at least be able to learn something."

James stole a glance at the section where the girls gathered, it seemed like Lily was speaking with Emily, but her eyes were also stealing glances at where James was sitting.

There's hope!

*****

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, not only were they good friends, they were also roommates; many things were only talked about within the dorm and forgot about once they were outside.

"James, when did you change your attitude towards Harry Potter?" Remus felt very confused. This was too weird, James and him continued to see each other everyday after August 15th, how come he didn't know when James changed his attitude towards Harry Potter from thinking that he was a cold and ruthless Death Eater to thinking that he was a righteous and kind young man?

"Change?" James sneered, "Harry Potter is the enemy, I don't think that he'll ever stand on Dumbledore and the Order's side. A Death Eater is a Death Eater, all of them are evil."

Peter was shocked, "But you just…" A few minutes ago, he really did thought that James had changed his attitude, or at least really thank that powerful person for saving their lives.

"That's just for show." James lazily fell back onto his soft bed. "Dumbledore wanted me to work with Harry Potter, I couldn't let him down in front of all the students. Not only would it not show his faults, it would only show that I'm still just a naïve kid who doesn't know to look at the big picture." He smiled, very pleased at himself, "I'm going to let everyone know that I am now a mature and composed wizard, not just a kid who only knows how to play pranks." He winked at Sirius and asked as if he accomplished something great, "Did you see Evens's reaction?"

Sirius nodded and smiled very cockily, "A bit confused, that girl. But, I could tell, she liked what you said and the way you acted."

James shook his head as if he didn't agree with his past actions. "You should know, she never looked at me like that before, those beautiful green eyes were always filled with anger and annoyance." He paused a little, "I'm not sure whether she looked at me like that because I changed my attitude towards Harry Potter or that I changed the way I act, but it doesn't matter, I'm confident that I'll win her heart." He fisted his hand and muttered his promise.

Remus was filled with deep thoughts; looking at his two best friends, who were so happy right now, he felt utterly annoyed. James still looked at Harry Potter as the enemy, how was he able to assist Harry Potter during the tutoring session?

"James, are you planning on doing something during the tutoring session?"

James rolled his eyes at him, "Remus, who am I? I'm James Potter, do you think I would do something so low? I have a much better plan."


End file.
